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^ "S* "^ '^ ^p» ^^ "?p» ^p» ^ '^ "^ "S^ "^ '^ ^ 

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TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER PAGE 

I. AN INTRODUCTION TO WASHINGTON. -.. 7 

Railways, Cabs, Hotels, Restaurants, etc 7 

District and Municipal Affairs - -. 13 

11. A TOUR OF THE CAPITOL.... 18 

III. THE NEW BUILDING FOR THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS.. 49 

IV. ON CAPITOL HILL 56 

V. FROM THE CAPITOL TO THE WHITE HOUSE 62 

A Walk on Pennsj'lvania Avenue 62 

VI. AT THE EXECUTIVE MANSION . 69 

VII. THE EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS ..._-. " 76 



92 



VIIL FROM THE MONUMENT TO THE MUSEUMS 

The Washington Monument... 92 

Some Scientific Departments 98 

IX. HISTORIC AND PICTURESgUE WASHINGTON 109 

X. OFFICIAL ETIQUETTE AT THE CAPITAL ,.. 127 

XL CHURCHES, ART GALLERIES, THEATERS, CLUBS, ETC 133 

XII. EXCURSIONS ABOUT WASHINGTON 139 

^ I. To Mount Vernon 139 

2. To Arlington and Fort Myer 145 

3. To the Soldiers' Home, Rock Creek Church, Fort Stevens, 

Battle and National Cemeteries, the Catholic University, 
and Brookland 148 

4. To the ''Zoo," Rock Creek Park, and Chevy Chase 153 

5. Georgetown and its Vicinity... 155 

6. Georgetown to Tennallytown and Glen Echo 158 

7. Georgetown to Great Falls 159 

8. To Bladensburg and Kendall Green - 1G2 

LIST OF THE DIPLOMATIC CORPS 164 

LIST OF WASHINGTON CHURCHES 165 



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PREFATORY NOTE. 



This is an attempt to make a really "handy" guide-book to the 
capital of the United States — a city frequented more than any other 
in the country by sight-seers. It is neither an encyclopedia nor a 
history; nor does it presume to select for you what you should like 
and what you should dislike. If it contains errors — as is almost 
inevitable to a first edition of such a book, in spite of all care — 
the w^riter will be thankful to have them pointed out in order that 
they may be corrected in future editions; and he will welcome 
suggestions or information as to how the book may be bettered in 
any direction. 

The writer's grateful acknowledgments are already due to many 
persons who have assisted him with their knowledge and counsel, 
including several busy officials who have supervised those parts 
relating to their departments of governmental work. Thanks are 
particularly due to Miss Helena McCarthy and Mr. William Elroy 
Curtis, both well-known journalists, who gave the author valuable 
help in treating the residential and social aspects of the capital. 



(5) 



AMERICAN AND EUROPEAN PLAN 




ABSOLUTELY FIRE-PROOF 



I. 

AN INTRODUCTION TO WASH 
INGTON. 



Railways, Cabs, Hotels, Restaurants, Etc. 

Washington has two railway stations and one steamboat landing. 
The railway stations are: 

(i) Baltimore & Ohio Station, at New Jersey Avenue and C 
Street, one block north of the Capitol grounds. Into this old, ante- 
bellum station of the oldest working railroad in the country come the 
Royal Blue and all other trains of the Baltimore 8c Ohio system and 
its connections from the North and West, and from the South by 
way of the Shenandoah Valley. Cable and horse cars may be taken 
here for any part of the city, and baggage -^vagons and hacks will be 
found in waiting. It has no restaurant, but several exist near by. 

(2) Pennsylvania Railroad Station, at Sixth and B streets. This 
is half a block from Pennsylvania Avenue, midway between the 
Capitol and the Treasury, and convenient to street-cars. Carriages 
and express-wagons are always in waiting. This is the station for 
all trains of the Pennsylvania (Baltimore & Potomac) and Northern 
Central railroads and their connections north and east, including the 
through trains to and from Boston; and for trains to and from the 
South over the Southern Railway, Atlantic Coast Line, Chesapeake 
& Ohio Railroad, and Seaboard Air Line. There is an excellent 
restaurant in the building, which, though rather small, is convenient. 

T/ie shooting of President Garfield, July 2, 1881, by the assassin 
Guiteau, took place in this building, and a metal star in the floor, 
near the inner entrance to the ladies' waiting-room, marks the spot 
where Garfield fell. The President was walking to his train, leaning 
upon the arm of James G. Blaine, his Secretary of State, when 
Guiteau came behind him and fired a heavy revolver bullet into his 
back. The assassin w^as immediately seized, and soon after was 
tried, convicted, and hanged. 

(7) 



8 HANDY GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

The Steamboat Landing for all Potomac boats and ferries — Nor- 
folk, Mount Vernon, Alexandria, etc. — is at the foot of Seventh 
Street, the terminus of the Seventh Street street-car cable line. 

The Street-car System of the city is extensive and convenient, 
and lines of herdic coaches run upon some streets not traversed by 
tramways. Most of the tramways are operated either by cablcb or 
by the conduit system of underground trolleys, first made effective 
here. No overhead trolley wires are allowed within the city proper. 
The fare is 5 cents; but all the lines sell packages of six tickets for 25 
cents, good upon any and every line of street-cars or herdics. The 
system of free transfer is so extensive that a person rarely has to pay 
two fares within the city limits. 

Hacks and Cabs are numerous, and not expensive, and the 
smooth asphalt pavements make their use a pleasure. The author- 
ized rates are as f ohows : 

One-Horse Vehicles. By -the trip — Day rates, between 5.00 a. m. 
and 12.30 A. M., each passenger, fifteen squares or less, 25 cents; each 
additional five squares or parts of squares, 10 cents. Midnight rates, 
between 12.30 a. m. and 5.00 a. m., each passenger, fifteen squares or 
less, 40 cents; each additional five squares or parts of squares, 15 
cents. By the hour — Day rates, one or two passengers, first hour, 75 
cents; each additional quarter hour or part thereof, 20 cents. Three 
or four passengers, first hour, $1; each additional quarter hour or 
part thereof, 25 cents. Midnight rates about double these. 

Two- Horse Vehicles. — About double the rates for one-horse cabs. 
The law says that when vehicles are not engaged by the hour, trip 
rates shall be charged; but when charges for consecutive trips exceed 
rates per hour, charges shall be by the hour. 

Bicycles are extremely numerous in Washington, and man}'- 
places exist where they can be rented. The law requires them to 
keep off the sidewalks, avoid excessive speed, and carry lamps at 
night. The favorite out-of-town run is up the Potomac. 

The Hotels of Washington are as numerous as would be expected 
in a city so constantly frequented by strangers ; and, as of late the 
leading boarding-houses have taken to assuming names and mount- 
ing signs over their doors, it is difficult to tell where the hotel list 
really ends and that of the boarding-houses begins. The following 
alphabetical list embraces, certainly, all the prominent and legitimate 
hotels, with some notes upon them calculated to assist the stranger 
in making a choice. Most of these have carriages awaiting trains at 
the railway stations ; but all are accessible by street-cars, and most 
of them are in the northwest quarter, within a quarter of a mile of 



AA'^ INTRODUCTION TO WASHINGTON. 9 

the Treasury. The rate mentioned is the lowest ordinary transient 
rate by the day ; a higher price must be paid for superior accommo- 
dations, and lower terms may be made by the month. Indeed, it is 
true, though not generally understood, that for a long stay a man or 
a family can live just as cheaply at a good hotel as at a private 
boarding-house, and can thus obtain many advantages which no 
private house will afford him. 

AN ANNOTATED LIST OF HOTELS. 

The Arlington. — Lafayette Square facing Vermont Avenue, $5. 
This hotel, which has steadily increased its size and accommodations, 
until it is now the largest first-class hotel in the city, has been dis- 
tinguished for many years as the abode of great people, many 
cabinet officers and the like making it their permanent home, and 
holding conferences under its roof that have modified the policy and 
history of the whole country. Here royal and distinguished guests 
have been entertained, and many notable balls and dinners have 
been given. 

Arno, at I and Sixteenth streets, is a new and brilliant sort of 
house, frequented by prominent politicians and society people, many 
of whom dwell there permanently. Terms, $3. 

Bancroft, at Eighteenth and H streets, is a pleasant hotel, largely 
occupied by families. Terms, $3. 

Chamberlin's, corner of Fifteenth and I streets. An expensive 
restaurant (p. 12), with a few rooms, chiefly permanently occupied. 

Cockraiiy Fourteenth and K streets. Terms, $3. 

Ebbitt, F Street, corner of Fourteenth, $3. One of the foremost 
hotels for business men and political travelers, which built up a wide 
reputation years ago by cultivating a special patronage among Army 
and Navy officers. It is favorably situated for sight-seers. 

Elsjnere, No. 1408 H Street. A handsome little hotel occupy- 
ing the former home of Senator Zach. Chandler, and the house used 
for a long time by the Alabama Claims Commission. Terms, $2. 

'- EtnricJis, a small German hotel and restaurant, opposite the Bal- 
timore & Ohio Railroad Station, European plan, 75 cents. 

Fredo7tia, a quiet, family hotel, very favorably situated near 
where New York Avenue crosses H and Twelfth streets. Terms, $2. 

Hamilton, Fourteenth and K streets, $2.50. An old-time house 
where many Congressmen reside. 

Howard, Pennsylvania Avenue and Sixth Street. A small, inex- 
pensive hotel on the European plan. 



10 HANDY GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

The Hotel Johnsouy on Thirteenth Street, near Pennsylvania 
Avenue, is a hotel on the European plan, $i, patronized almost wholly 
by men, chiefly those interested in theatrical and racing topics, and 
having a public restaurant. 

Laiureiice, E Street near Thirteenth. European, 75 cents. 

La Fetra's Hotel, at G and Eleventh streets, is in the midst of the 
shopping district. It has the distinction of being conducted upon 
temperance principles, and is filled with sober-minded folk, who find 
themselves very comfortable. Terms, $2. The restaurant (entrance 
on Eleventh Street) is a favorite luncheon place for ladies out shopping. 

La Normandie, on Fifteenth Street at I, faces McPherson Square, 
is large, new, and elegant, and has become a favorite among people 
of taste and means. Terms. $4. See illustration opposite p. 118. 

The Metropolitan, on Pennsylvania Avenue, between Sixth and 
Seventh streets, has more rooms t^an any in the city, and is a popular 
stopping place with politicians, as many Congressmen and influential 
officials board there. There has been a hotel on this site for almost 
a hundred years (p. 63). Terms, I2.50. 

The National, Pennsylvania Avenue, at the corner of Sixth 
Street, is another ancient hotel, patronized mainly by politicians, 
especially froin the South. It was the scene of famous doings in Clay 
and Webster's times (p. 63). Terms. $2.50. 

Oxford, New York Avenue and Fourteenth Street. A comfortable, 
quiet hotel, centrally located, and having many prominent boarders. 
Conducted on the European and American plans. Terms, $2.50. 

The Hotel Page has refitted the quarters at No. 734 Fifteenth 
Street (the next block above the Treasury), long famous as Welcker's, 
where many a snug congressional or lobbyist "little dinner" was 
given. The present regime is thoroughly Northern, and the fine 
restaurant attached is conducted upon New England theories of cook- 
ing — one of the modern innovations in Washington, whose hotel 
cooks hitherto have been of Southern training. European plan, %\. 

The Raleigh occupies a tall building at Pennsylvania Avenue and 
Twelfth Street, conducted on the European plan, $1, and having a 
public restaurant on the ground floor. 

The Regejit, on the south side of Pennsylvania Avenue at Fif- 
teenth Street, has an admirable situation, its bedroom windows over- 
looking the beautiful Executive Grounds and the Potomac. Terms, $3. 

Riggs House, Fifteenth Street, corner of G. This large and 
handsome hotel has a singularly good situation at the very center of 




STATUE OF ADMIRAL DAVID G. FARRAGUT IN FARRAGUT SQUARE. 
(See page 123.) 



AiY LVTRODUCTWA' TO WASHINGTOh^. 11 

the city, and has long merited its high reputation. Few modern 
hotels have the large, airy rooms and old-fashioned elegance main- 
tained here, and the table is excellent, attracting a high class of 
patronage. Rates, $3 to $4. 

The St. James, at Pennsylvania Avenue and Sixth Street, on the 
European plan ($1), has been a stopping-place for business men for 
forty years or so. 

The Shoreham, at I and Fifteenth streets, near McPherson 
Square, is the newest first-class hotel in the city; has a lofty, hand- 
some fire-proof building, with every convenience for luxurious living, 
and a central situation. It has numbered among its guests the high- 
est in the land, and has been the scene of many fashionable dinners 
and receptions. Conducted on both European and American plans; 

$4 to $5. 

The Hotel Vartiiwi is a small, comfortable house on Capitol Hill, 
at New Jersey Avenue and C Street. S. E. Terms, $2. 

The Veiidome is an excellent, inexpensive hotel on Pennsylvania 
Avenue at Third Street, near the Capitol. Conducted on both Euro- 
pean and American plans — $2 to $3. 

Willard's, at the corner of Pennsylvania Avenue and Fourteenth 
Street, is identified with the history of Washington (p. 66), where, 
especially just before and during the Civil War, it was the one great 
house of entertainment. It is of great size, and is still the resort of 
politicians and office-seekers, especially from the South. Terms, $3. 

Certain additional hotels, or regular boarding-houses, which receive 
short-term boarders at from $40 to $75 a month, but are mainly the 
homes of families, are as follows : 

The Anderson, 340 C Street. 

The Aston, Eleventh and G streets. 

The Buckingham, 918 Fifteenth Street. 

The Clarendon, Fourteenth and I streets. 

Congressional Hotel, New Jersey Avenue and B Street, S. E. 

The Dunbarton, 623 Pennsylvania Avenue. 

The Eckington, Third and T streets, N. E., Eckington. 

The Everett, 1723 H Street. 

The Grammercy, Vermont Avenue, opposite Arlington Hotel. 

Hillman Plouse, 226 North Capitol Street. 

The Irvington, 1416 K Street. 

The Lincoln, Tenth and H streets. 

The Litchfield, Fourteenth Street, between I and K streets. 



12 HANDY GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

The Morrisett, Fourteenth and H streets. 

The Rochester, Thirteenth and G streets. 

The Windsor, New York Avenue and Fifteenth Street. 

Restaurants have multiplied and improved in Washington during 
the last ten years, which have also witnessed the disappearance of the 
old-fashioned, village-like custom of eating dinner as soon after 4.00 
o'clock as office hours would permit. Now AVashingtonians, gentle 
and simple, lunch at i.oo and dine at 6.00 to 8.00, like other Christians. 

The most famous restaurants in Washington, since the disappear- 
ance of Wormley's and Welcker's, are Chamberlin s and Harvey's. 
The former occupies a double house at 1 and Fifteenth streets and 
serves game and costly delicacies beloved of clubmen, prepared in 
the southern style which has made his terrapin, canvas-backs, etc., 
celebrated. The other, Harvey s, at Pennsylvania Avenue and 
Eleventh Street, is noted for its oysters. These and the S/ioreha//i, 
Page's, and the Raleigh are favorite resorts for after-the-theater 
suppers. The Losekam, 1225 F Street; the Bedford, Thirteenth and 
F streets, and La Fetra's (p. 10) are patronized largely by ladies, 
who can also find, on F, G, Ninth, Seventh, and other streets in the 
region near the public buildings, a large number of dairies, bakeries, 
ice-cream saloons, and eating-places of every grade, resorted to by 
government clerks, men and women, high and low. Dining-rooms 
are numerous on the Avenue and in Georgetown. The restaurants 
in the Capitol are good and not expensive, especially Page's in the 
Senate basement, and there is a good one at the National Museum. 
No distinctly French or Italian table d'hote has yet been opened in 
Washington, but several German establishments furnishing meals 
are known to those fond of German dishes and beer. 

Professional boarding-houses are plentiful, particularly in the 
region north of the Avenue, between Tenth and Fourteenth streets, 
and in the neighborhood of the Pension Building; and this quarter 
also abounds in private houses renting rooms and perhaps furnishing 
board. All these are indicated by small signs displayed at the door 
, or in a window. The best plan for a person desiring such quarters 
is to walk about, observe these signs, and examine what suits him. 
A man and his wife can get very comfortable lodging and board for 
$75 a month. 

Apartment Houses have begun to arise in Washington, of which 
the most conspicuous is the lofty Cairo, on Q Street, between Six- 
teenth and Seventeenth. Other fine apartment houses and family 



A.V INTRODUCTION TO WASHINGTON. 13 

hotels are The A lb any (for gentlemen onl}-), H and Seventeenth streets ; 

The Cambri'dg-e, 1309 Seventeenth Street; The Cliftoii, Massachu- 
setts Avenue and Fourteenth Street; The Concord, New Hampshire 
Avenue, between S and T streets; The Frederick, Ninth and K 
streets; The Grafton, 1139 Connecticut Avenue; The Portland, 
Thomas Circle; The Richni07id, Seventeenth and H streets, and The 

Woodmont , Iowa Circle. 

The Shops of Washington are extensive and fine, for it is a city 
which calls for a good appearance and generous living on the part of 
its citizens. It is a city, moreover, where the strangers who come 
spend money. The principal shopping streets are Pennsylvania 
Avenue, Seventh, Ninth, F and G streets between Ninth and Four- 
teenth streets, but there are local groups of stores, especially for 
provisions, on Capitol Hill and in Georgetown. 

District and Municipal Affairs. 

The District of Columbia had a peculiar origin, and its constitution 
and history account for many of the peculiarities of the present 
capital city. The first Congress of the United States had the task 
of establishing a Federal capital, under a plan for taking in some 
small tract of land and exercising exclusive jurisdiction over it. In 
1790 a bill was passed, after many postponements and much hot 
discussion, accepting from the States of Maryland and Virginia a 
tract ten miles square on the Potomac, to be called the District of 
Columbia; but in 1846 Virginia's portion — some thirty-six square 
miles south of the river — was ceded back to her. Three Commis- 
sioners were appointed by the President (Washingtor^) to purchase 
the land from its owners, and to provide suitable buildings for the 
President, Congress, and the public offices of the Government, but 
they had much difficulty in the first matter, as the inhabitants 
'declined to sell their property at any reasonable price. Major Pierre 
Charles L'Enfant, a French engineer who had fought in the Revolu- 
tion, was appointed by the Commissioners to lay out the city within 
the District, but proved so irreconcilable to discipline that it became 
necessary to dismiss him, though his plan was essentially followed 
by Ellicott, his assistant, who succeeded him. It is to L'Enfant, 
consequently, that we owe the broad, radiating avenues, superim- 
posed upon a plan of rectilinear streets, which cut across the avenues 
at man)^ angles, and thus form oddly shaped lots that have stimu- 
lated the genius of landscape gardeners and architects. 



14 HANDY GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

The avenues were named after the States, and in a certain order. 
By reason of its midway and influential position, that had already 
given it the excellent soubriquet. Keystone State, Pennsylvania was 
entitled to the name of the great central avenue. The avenues south 
of this received the names of the Southern States ; the avenues 
which crossed Pennsylvania were named after the Middle States, 
Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, and New York, while the New 
England States were left to designate the avenues then regarded as 
remote possibilities among the swamps and hills of the northwest. 
The curious way in which the capital has developed along the lines 
of the last-named group is typical of the growth and change in the 
balance of the whole country since L'Enfant's day. 

The rectilinear streets run exactly north and south and east and 
west. The streets running east and west are known by the letters of 
the alphabet, so we have North A and South A, North B and 
South B, and so on ; at right angles to the alphabetical streets are 
the streets bearing numbers, and beginning their house enumeration 
at a line running due north and south through the Capitol. This 
divides the city into four quarters, Northwest, Northeast, Southeast, 
and Southwest, each with its own set of numbers for the houses, 
arranged upon the decimal system — that is, loo numbers for each 
block. This is repeated in a direction away from each of the Capitol 
streets; all addresses, therefore, should bear the added designa- 
tion of the quarter by its initials— N.W., N.E.,S.E,, orS,"W. In this 
book, as nearly everything mentioned is in \hQ Northwest Quarter, 
these initials are uniformly omitted for that quarter, but are always 
supplied elsewhere. 

In 1800 the seat of Government was established (p, 19) in Wash-. 
ington, which was first so called, it is said, by the Commissioners in 
1 791. The General himself, who was its most active promoter, always 
spoke of it as the Federal City. The town was all in the woods, and 
had only 3,000 inhabitants, mostly living in the northwestern quarter, 
or on Capitol Hill. Nevertheless it grew until 1814, when, after a 
weak resistance at Bladensburg, it was captured by the British, who 
set fire to the public buildings and some private residences, intending 
to destroy the town altogether. A hurricane of wind and rain came 
that night to complete the destruction in some respects, but this 
extinguished the conflagration. Next day the British left in a panic 
of causeless fear, excepting a large contingent of deserters, who took 
this opportunity to stay behind and "grow up with the country." 



A.V INTRODUCTION TO WASHINGTON. - 15 

The city was immediately rebuilt, and in i860 it contained 61,000 
inhabitants. When the Civil War broke out, Washington at once 
became the focus of attention from the whole country — a distributing 
point for Union troops, and a visionary point of attack by Confeder- 
ates; but it was well protected by forts and never had but one 
menace of importance (pp. 148, 149). When the war was over and the 
city found itself with an enlarged population and a vastly greater 
importance, attention was directed to its improvement, emphasized 
by a determined attack upon it by Western men, who tried to move 
the capital to some point west of the Mississippi. 

The population of the District — which is a fairer statement than to 
quote the city merely — is now about 275,000, and it is steadily grow- 
ing. In 1800 it was 14,093, when the District held the nineteenth 
rank; now the rank is thirty-ninth — showing how much more rap- 
idly other more commercial towns have outrun this community. About 
one-third of the population is colored, but aliens are very few. -^ 

The wealth of the District is shown by taxable property to the 

value of $191,500,000, to which must be added more than $200,000,000 

of exempt property, chiefly belonging to the Federal Government, 

which, in lieu of assessed taxes, contributes one-half of all the Dis- 

I trict's expenses, and practically has done much more than that in the 

j form of public gr,ounds, boulevards, and reservations free to the pub- 

( lie and maintained at the public expense. The total expenditure of 

I the United States for permanent buildings, improvements, and embel- 

' lishments within the District, probably closely approaches $100,- 

000,000, but the results are worth far more than that. 

The Relations of the District and Federal City to the Union are 
very peculiar. . The District — all of which south of the Potomac was 
returned to Virginia in 1846 — was accepted as territory belonging 
wholly to the Union, and to be governed directly by Congress. By 
the bargain made with the owners of the soil they deeded their lands 
in trust to two trustees, with an agreement that they should make 
such use of the area in laying out a city as they saw fit ; that all land 
taken for streets, avenues, and alleys should be a free gift to the 
United States ; that the lands .selected for any reservations, or for 
public buildings, parks, etc., should be paid for at $66.66 per acre ; 
that the remainder should be laid out into squares and lots, to be 
divided equally between the original proprietors and the Government. 
It was agreed that the 10,136 city lots thus falling to the share of the 
Government should constitute a " city fund" to be used for assisting 



16 HANDY GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

in the erection of the public buildings and for opening and making 
the streets ; and it was from the sale of these lots that the money for 
beginning the Capitol and the White House was raised. The land 
these and nearly all the other public buildings stand on cost the Gov- 
ernment nothing whatever. More than half the whole area of the city 
is reserved in streets and parks. In opening and preparing these 
streets and parks the early Government bore all the expense ; and, on 
the other hand, it retained entire control of the community. Never- 
theless it was understood that in purely local matters the principle of 
"home rule " was to apply. 

In accordance with that idea Congress not only continued the 
municipal government already existing at Alexandria and George- 
town, but, on May 3, 1802, established a municipal government, 
consisting of a mayor, board of aldermen, and council, for Washing- 
ton, which, with various modifications, was continued for 70 years. 

In 1871, however, when the effort was made to move the Govern- 
ment into the West, friends of the city saw that something was 
needed to be done to make Washington more dignified, healthful, and 
attractive. The story of this has been so tersely told, in their excellent 
book, " The National Capital," by Hutchins & Moore, that I can not 
do better than ([uote it: 

" The movement for improving it was started by Alexander R. 
Shepherd, who afterwards became governor of the District under the 
territorial form of government established by Congress. The com- 
mon saying is that ' vShepherd lifted Washington out of the mud,' 
and it is undoubtedly true that to him the credit is due for the begin- 
ning and successful continuing of the vast improvements made in all 
parts of the city within a few years after 1871. Shepherd was a man 
of indomitable will, and he had determined that the National capital 
should no longer be a comfortless, repulsive place, but that it should 
become a metropolis in fact as well as in name, and an object of 
pride and admiration to the people of the country. He secured the 
friendship of President Grant, and awakened Congress to an interest 
in the affairs of Washington. He gained support in his plans from 
some of the prominent 'citizens, and he induced capitalists in the 
Northern cities to invest in the District bonds. Congress passed a 
bill to abolish the old municipal government, putting in place of it a 
territorial government, with a governor and legislature. The Board 
of Public Works was organized, with Shepherd at its head, and the 
work of improvement was begun. An army of laborers was set to 
work to grade and pave the streets and avenues, to cut down and 
remove banks and obstructions, to reconstruct the sidewalks, to cover 
over the old canal, which had long beei^ a nuisance, to set out 
thousands of trees, to develop the parks, squares, and circles, tc 



AN IN TR OD UC TION TO IV A SHING TON. 1 7 

build sewers and lay water-pipes, and to do many other things which 
would improve and beautify the city. 

"In a few years an almost incredible amount of work had been 
done. The old slovenly city had nearly disappeared. Fine business 
buildings and residences, churches and school-houses, new markets, 
new hotels, were erected. Shepherd's will was law, and his fierce 
energy pervaded everything. At least twenty-five millions were 
expended in the improvements, and the result was that AYashington, 
after three-quarters of a century, became what had been predicted of 
it when it was founded — a magnificent capital." 

This, however, cost a great deal of money, and raised the taxes to 
la figure that made a mighty outcry, put an end to much work before 
completion, and sent Mr. Shepherd a-flying with many hard names 
hurled after him. (He came back in '95, and was vindicated by a 
tremendous popular reception.) Congress again changed the form 
of local government, in 1878, and created the new arrangement now 
in practice. This consists simply of two civilian Commissioners 
'appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate, and one 
lArmy engineer officer detailed by the Secretary of War, the three 
(Constituting a Board of Commissioners for three years. They are 
'empowered by Congress to make, and change at will, building, health, 
and police regulations. They also appoint all subordinate officials 
,and clerks. 

' They are required to make and submit to the Secretary of the 
Treasury, annual estimates for all the expenditures within the District 
|for the ensuing year. The tax-rate is fixed and taxes assigned by 
,(Act of Congress, and the taxes, when collected, are deposited in the 
.United States Treasury so that not a cent can be expended for any 
[purpose except as appropriated annually by Congress. One half of 
|the amount to be raised is assessed upon the District, the other half 
jis appropriated b}^ Congress. The headquarters of District affairs is 
|in the District Building on First Street, between B and C, The 
■District courts, except the Police Court, are in the City Hall, an old 
jbuilding in Judiciary Square, facing Four-and-a-half Street, where 
Ithe Marshal and certain other functionaries also have offices. It was 
;in this building, built for the court house, that Garfield's assassin, ' 
IGuiteau, was tried, and other noted cases have been heard there. In 
ffront of it, upon a marble column, stands a monument of Lincoln 
carved by Lot Flannery, who has been described as a " self-taught 
sculptor." There is a certain rough vigor about it, but the tall shaft 
and big figure irresistibly suggest an ornamental umbrella handle. 



II. 

A TOUR OF THE CAPITOL. 



The great advantage that Washington enjoys in having been 
intelligently platted before any building of consequence had begun, 
is signally shown in the choice of this central and sightly hilltoj^ as 
the position of the Capitol. The grounds in front of the building 
were made perfectly level, but in the rear they sloped downward 
some eighty feet to the Potomac flats, which are overflowed occa- 
sionally even yet. The present arrangement of the park dates from 
1874, when it was enlarged to its present enclosure of forty-six acres, 
and beautified by the late Frederick Law Olmstead. The splendid 
marble terraces on the western side of the building, and their orna- 
mental approaches, together costing $200,000, are a part of the gen- 
eral scheme of out-door decoration , which each year becomes more 
admirable as the trees and shrubberies mature. Many attempts have 
been made to include foreign trees, beds of wild flowers, and 
memorial trees, planted by distinguished persons, but these have 
failed to survive in almost every instance. A pretty feature of the 
northwestern part of the park is the iv3^-covered resf-kouse, one 
window of which looks into a grotto. The low stone towers, becoming 
vine-covered, in the western parts of the park, are the orifices through 
which is drawn the supply of fresh air for the ventilation of the 
Senate chamber and hall of Representatives. Immediately in front 
(east) of the Capitol is the Plaza, where vast crowds assemble to 
witness presidential inaugurations, and w^here the street-cars and 
carriages land their passengers; and here, facing the main entrance, 
stands G?'eeiioiigJi' s statue of IVas/ii'ngton, sitting in a curule chair 
as the first great tribune of the American people. 

A statue of Washington was ordered by Congress in 1832, to 
signalize the centennial anniversary of his birth. The commission 

(18) 



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A TOUR OF THE CAPITOL. 19 

was given to Horatio Greenough,* who was then residing in Flor- 
ence, Italy, the only restriction upon the execution of his plan 
being that it should not be equestrian, and that the countenance 
should conform to that of the Houdon statue. His price of $20,000 
;was accepted, and he devoted the principal part of his time for eight 
years to its completion. The intention was to place this statue in 
the center of the rotunda, over the mausoleum provided for Wash- 
ington in the undercroft (p. 38); but by the time it was completed 
and had been brought here in a special ship (1841), the idea of placing 
the bones of Washington in the Capitol had been abandoned, and 
the sculptor himself objected to setting it in the rotunda, because of 
the improper light there. After much discussion, therefore, it was 
decided to leave it out-of-doors. This statue, which is covered from 
the weather in winter and invisible, is of Carrara marble, and repre- 
sents, in heroic size, the Father of his Country in a Roman toga, 
which has slipped from his shoulders, lifting a hand of warning and 
; advice to the nation. As a work of art, it has caused great contro- 
versy among people of taste. It is probable that we know too much 
of Washington as a man — he is too near to us — to make an attempt 
at classic idealization of him seem natural or pleasing. 

Beginnings of the Capitol. — The act of Congress of July 9, 1790, 
which established the District of Columbia as the National Capital , 
'provided that prior to the first Monday of December, 1800, the Com- 
'missioners charged with carrying out the law should have finished a 
.suitable building for the sessions of Congress. When the Commis- 
isioners had accepted L'Enfant's plan for the city, they found this hill 
selected by him as the site of the National legislative halls, and as 
soon as the Commissioners could accumulate money enough from 
(their land sales to make a respectable showing, they began the erec- 
ition of the two buildings first needed — the E«;ecutive Mansion and the 
Congressional halls and offices, which, at Jefferson's suggestion, it is 
jsaid, came to be called the Capitol. One of the interesting features of 
jearly life at the seat of Government is the degree to which formal 
classics ruled in taste. The corner-stones were laid with Masonic 
(rites and all possible parade, George Washington officiating; and 
'there followed much speechmaking, firing of guns, and dining in honor 
of both these auspicious occasions. October 13, 1792, was the date 
I at the President's House ; but the corner-stone of the Capitol was not 
,laid until September 18, 1793. Materials were slow and uncertain, the 
I funds gave out from time to time, and had not Virginia and Maryland 



* Horatio Greenough was a native of Boston (1805), but spent most of his life 
in Italy, where he modeled many sculptures, including several to be mentioned 
in future pages, and a colossal group, entitled " The Rescixe," made for this Gov- 

\ ernment, upon which he spent eight years, but which has never been executed. 

j He died in 1852, and his biography was written in 1853 ^Y Tuckerman. His 

\ brother, Richard S., (p. 32) was also a sculptor. 



20 HANDY GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

advanced the money Congress refused, the work would have stopped 
altogether. The town was yet only a muddy village in the woods ; 
and the Commissioners had to fight opposition and obstacles at every 
step. Nevertheless an edifice, such as it was, was ready for the Gov- 
ernment, which came from Philadelphia, bag and baggage, in a single 
sloop, and took possession during October, 1800. 

Whose was the plait has excited much controversy, for several 
minds contributed. The original sketch came from Doctor Thornton, 
a native of the West Indies, and then in charge of the Patent Office, 
and so pleased Washington that it was adopted. The plans were 
redrawn by Stephen H. Hallett, who was a student of Nash, the most 
famous house-builder of his time. Hoban, the architect of the White 
House, and others made suggestions, so that Thornton's plan was 
much modified; still less did it foreshadow the Capitol of to-day. 

Only the north w4ng, or that part of the main building containing 
the present Supreme Court rooms (p. 45), was finished in 1800, the 
opposite wing not being ready until 181 1. A wooden passageway 
connected them across the space now occupied by the basement of 
the rotunda. The expenditure up to that time had been $787,000. 
When, in 18 14, the British captured the city they entered the legis- 
lative halls, held a mock session of Congress, and soon the building 
was in flames. In 181 5 Congress authorized the Secretary of the 
Treasury to borrow $500,000 to begin repairs (for walls stood), and 
in 181 8 undertook the erection of the central part. B. H. Latrobe* 
took the architectural superintendence of the restoration, while 
the new central structure was planned and supervised by Charles 
Bulfinch. The original building was completed in 1827, at a cost, 
including the grading of the grounds, repairs, etc., of not quite 
12,500,000. A fire in the library compelled the rebuilding of the 
western front in 1851, when additions were made, and the same year 
the corner-stones of the extensions, now known as the House and 
Senate wings, were laid; but these were not completed until 1859 
(at a cost of nearly $9,000,000). Meanwhile the low wooden dome 
which had temporarily covered the rotunda was removed in 1856, 
and the erection of the present iron dome was begun. 

Add to the sums above noted a million dollars for additional 

* Benjamin H. Latrobe, born in England in 1764, died in New Orleans, i82o< 
was the foremost engineer and architect of his time. He became Surveyor of 
Public Buildings for the United States in 1803, and remained in office, exercising 
a broad and refined influence, until his resignation in 1817, and to him the Capitol 
owes its best features. His successor was Charles Bulfinch of Massachusetts, 
who had planned the State House, City Hall, and Faneuil Hall in Boston, and 
many other public edifices in New England. Mr. Bulfinch remained in charge 
of the Capitol until 1830. 



A TOUR OF THE CAPITOL 21 

space for the grounds and the obtaining of water, two millions for 
improvements of the grounds and terraces, another million for repairs 
and improvements on the building itself, and various other items, and 
the cost of the Capitol to the present time approaches $15,000,000. 

The Front. — The original and proper front of the Capitol is the 
eastern, and the city has grown behind rather than before the state 
house of the nation, as it was expected to do. This contingency has 
been met by improvements at the rear of the building to increase the 
stateliness of its approaches, so that the Capitol now has two faces, 
different but substantially equal in merit. This new w^estern front, 
although on the side from which most visitors approach, requires a 
long, toilsome climbing of terraces and steps; whereas the street-cars 
and herdics carry passengers to the level of the basement on the 
south side, and on the north side almost to the very entrance. It is 
therefore easier, as well as more proper, to begin one's survey of the 
great structure at the architect's original front door. 

This eastern front is the one usually represented in pictures, and 
it is imposing from every standpoint. One of the most satisfactory 
views of it is that obtained from the little car-passengers' shelter on 
the north side of the grounds. The massive and classic proportions 
of the Senate wing are near at hand, and its ornamental front cuts 
deeply into the dome, whose supports sink away in grand perspective 
to the Representative wing, while the majestic dome itself rises tier 
upon tier of columns and circling architraves to its convergent roof 
and statue-crowned tholus. There is a wonderful feeling of breadth 
and grandeur, yet of buoyancy, in this oblique aspect of the noble 
pile — all sunny white, save the color in the folds of the flag. 

The Capitol is 751 feet long, 350 feet in greatest width, and covers 
nearly four acres of ground, with 153,112 square feet of floor space. 
It is 155 feet high to the cornices of the main roof, or 288 feet to the 
crest of the Liberty statue. The dome of St. Paul's, in London, 
measures 404 feet to the top of its cross. The architecture is modified 
Corinthian upon a rustic base, plus a dome, and the material of the 
older central part is Virginia (Aquia Creek) sandstone, painted white, 
but the newer wings are built of Massachusetts marble. 

In front of the building stretches a broad paved plaza, and three 
flights of broad steps lead up to the central entrance and to each 
wnng, lending a very effective appearance of breadth and solidity to 
the whole mass, whose walls are largely hidden by the rows of mono- 
lithic, fluted columns of Maryland marble that sustain the three broad 

porticos. The porticos of the wings have each twenty-two columns, 
3 



23 HANDY GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

and ten more columns on each of their northern and western fronts. 
The pediment of the southern wing, which contains the House of 
Representatives, has no statuary as yet, though designs for it were 
made by Crawford; but the facade of the northern wing, where the 
Senate sits, is doubly adorned. The tympanum is filled with an 
immense group by Thomas Crawford, emblematic of American prog- 
ress, which has displaced the Indians with the arts of agriculture, 
corhmerce, and industrial production, supported by the sword. This 
is considered the chef d'osuvre of this talented American sculptor * 
and will repay careful study. Crawford was paid $17,000 for the 
models, and the cutting of the marble (from Lee, Mass.) by several 
skilled Italian carvers cost |26,ooo more. 

The grand centi'al p07'tico, which dates from 1825, is 160 feet wide, 
and has twenty-four columns carrying a pediment of 80 feet span filled 
with an allegorical group cut in sandstone, after a design by John 
Quincy Adams when Secretary of State. It was executed by Luigi 
Persico, a prominent Roman sculptor, who had many commissions 
here. This group represents the "Genius of America." America, 
armed, is resting her shield upon an altar, while an eagle perches at her 
feet. She seems listening to Hope, and points in response to Justice, 
who holds the Constitution and her scales. From the level of the 
IDortico extend two great buttresses, each adorned with pieces of colos- 
sal statuary in marble. That upon the south side represents Colum- 
bus, and is entitled " The Discovery of America." The sculptor was 
Persico (1S46), who exactly copied the armor from a suit worn by Col- 
umbus, yet preserved in Genoa. The opposite group (north) is by 
Greenough, and represents an incident of frontier life as typical of 
" Civilization, or the First Settlement of America." Each of these 
groups cost $24,000. 

The inaugiiratioii of Pi'esidents of the United States has taken 
place upon this portico since the time of Jackson. A draped staging 
is extended outward to accommodate the high officials who form a 
part of the ceremonial, and here the oath of office is administered 
by the Chief Justice in full view of a multitude of citizens. The 
only time when the public was kept at a distance was at the first 
inauguration of Lincoln, when the District militia guarded the stand 
and its neighborhood, and every window was filled with riflemen. 

')*Thomas Crawford was born in New York in 1814, and died in London in 
1857. He early became a student of Thorwaldsen, at Rome, and afterward rose 
to eminence there as a sculptor. Of his numerous works the best known ar.e 
the iTiarble "Last of His Race" and "Peri," in the New York Historical 
Society ; the bronze equestrian "Washington," at Richmond, Va. ; and his 
works'here. His bust, by Crittenden, is in Statuary Hall (p. 28). 




THE ROGERS BRONZE DOOR. 
Eastern or Mam Entrance to the Capitol, 



A TOUR OF THE CAPITOL. 23 

In the center of this portico is the great Rogers bronze door, 
which opens directly into the rotunda under the dome, and is among 
the most interesting objects at the Capitol. It was designed in Rome 
in 1858 by Randolph Rogers*, who received $8,000 for his plaster 
models, and was cast in Munich, in 1861, by F. von Mliller, who was 
paid $17,000 in gold, then at a high premium. It is nineteen feet 
high and weighs ten tons. 

The leaves or valves of the door, which is double, stand in superbly 
enriched casing, and when opened fold back into fitting jambs. Each 
leaf is divided into eight panels, in addition to the transom panel 
under the arch. Each panel contains a complete scene in alto- 
relievo. The scenes portrayed constitute the principal events in the 
life of Columbus and the discovery of America, with an ornate 
enrichment of emblematic designs. On the key of the arch of the 
casing is the head of Columbus, and on the sides of the casing are 
four typical statuettes in niches arranged chronologically — Asia, 
Africa, Europe, and America. The remainder of the casing is 
embellished with a running border of ancient armor, banners, and 
heraldic designs, and at the bottom, on either side, an anchor, all 'in 
basso-relievo, and emblematic of navigation and conquest. On the 
frame of each leaf of the door, set in niches, are sixteen statuettes 
of the patrons and contemporaries of Columbus, given in the order 
of their association with the announcement and execution of his 
theory of geographical exploration. The first eight figures are asso- 
ciated in pairs when the doors are closed, and divided when opened. 
All are labeled. The sixteenth is Pizarro, conqueror of Peru. The 
panels illustrate the career of Columbus, the third scene being his 
audience at the court of Ferdinand and Isabella. Between the panels 
are a series of heads, representing the historians of the voyages of 
Columbus, prominent among whom are Irving and Prescott. 

Niches on each side of this imposing entrance hold statues of 

War (on the right — a noble figure of a Roman warrior) and of 

Peace (on the left — insignificant), modeled by Persico and costing 

together $12,000; while above the door is a bust of Washington, 

j crowned by Fame and Peace, which was sculptured by A. Capellano 

I in 1827. Capellano is not known beyond his carvings here. 

I Passing through the bronze doors, we enter the Rotunda. It 

occupies nearly the whole width of the center of the building, and 

I -is unbroken to the summit of the dome. It is 96 feet in diameter 

; and 180 feet high to the canopy. Its center is the center of the Capitol. 

The pavement is of sandstone, and the walls are plastered and broken 

* Randolph Rogers was born in 1825, studied in Italy from 1848 to 1850, and 
then opened a studio in New York, but returned to Italy in I855 and remained 
there until his death in 1892. He made many notable monuments, including that 
of Washington at Richmond, Va. (begun by Crawford), portrait-statues, and 
ideal figures of much merit. He stands high on the roll of American sculptors. 



24 HANDY GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

into panels by engaged pillars, above which there is a broad entabla- 
ture. This is surmounted by a gallery (which has as good a "whisper- 
ing" echo as that of St. Paul's), formed of Corinthian columns connected 
by a balustrade; and this gallery and the rotunda are lighted by a 
belt of large windows, outside of which is the circular row of columns 
that form the external visible supports of the dome. From the 
entablature carried upon these pillars springs the concavity of the 
dome, arching inward to an opening 50 feet in diameter, at the base 
of the lantern, called the eye. This opening is encircled by a gallery 
and canopied by a painted ceiling, consisting of a circular piece of 
iron, covered with stucco, 65 feet wide. (See p. 26.) 

In the vast and somewhat obscure space of this immense apart- 
ment only a colossus, like the Statue of Liberty in New York harbor, 
would seem a fitting ornament. It was proposed to cut away the 
floor in the center and erect Greenough's figure of Washington, now 
on the plaza, upon an elevated pedestal approached from the base- 
ment, or crypt, by encircling flights of steps; but this was not done, 
and all attempts at decoration have been confined to the walls. 

Four doors open out of the rotunda, and over each is a marble 
panel carved in high relief. That over the eastern, or main, entrance 
and exit is by Enrico Causici of Verona, a pupil of Canova, and 
represents the "Landing of the Pilgrims"; that over the northern 
door is by N. Gevelot, a Frenchman, and pictures William Penn mak- 
ing a treaty with the Delaware Indians ; over the southern door is 
another group by Causici — "Daniel Boone in Conflict with the 
Indians" — in which Boone's face was copied from a portrait by Hard- 
inge, and over the western door is Capellano's " Pocahontas Saving 
the Life of John Smith. " These sculptors were all men who worked 
here about 1827, and each was paid $3,500. 

Each of the lower wall spaces carries one of the big historical 
paintings (18 by 12 feet), familiar to everybody through innumerable 
reproductions — even upon the paper currency and Columbian postage 
stamps of the Government. All are b}'- American artists. Each has 
attached to it a label giving the names of the persons represented 
by careful portraits in its groups, and little more than a list is here 
needed. They fall into two classes — "Early historical" and "Revo- 
lutionary." The former are to a great degree imaginative, 
particularly the De Soto; but the latter are accurately true to the 
times and scenes they purport to represent. In the first class is 
the "Landing of Columbus at San Salvador," in 1492, painted in 1S39 



A TOUR OF THE CAPITOL. 25 

by Van Der Lyn,* who was paid $10,000 for it in 1842. The "Dis- 
covery of the Mississippi" by De Soto, in 1541, was painted by 
Powellf, who has closed his eyes to history and let imagination 
produce a picturesque effact; the date is 1850, and the price was 
$12,000. The "Baptism of Pocahontas" at Jamestown, in 1613, is 
nearer the truth, since the artist, J. G. Chapman,:}: did his best to 
represent the portraits and costumes of Rolfe, Sir Thomas Dale, and 
other Virginian colonists and Indian chieftains, who may be supposed 
present at the ceremony. Its cost was $10,000, and its date is 1836. 
The last of this colonial series, by Professor Weir,§ date 1840, price 
$10,000, is a picture of the farewell service on board the unseaworthy 
Speedwell, before it sailed from Delft Haven (the port of Leyden, 
Holland) for America, bearing the first colony of Pilgrims, who were 
finally landed on Plymouth Rock by the Mayjiozver. 

The four Revolutionary paintings are by Col. John Trumbull 
( 1 756-1 843), who was son of Gov. Jonathan Trumbull of Connecticut, 
For several months the young officer was aid and military secretary 
to Washington. After the war he studied in Europe, and conceived 
an ambition to produce this series of national paintings, in which 
each face is drawn from life, so far as sittings could be obtained, 
while others are copied from approved portraits. This faithfulness 
of detail interferes with the best artistic results, giving a certain 
hardness to all parts, but increases the historical value of the com- 
position. They were painted between 18 17 and 1824, and cost the 
nation $32,000 — a large sum in those days. 

The first is "Signing the Declaration of Independence" in the Old 
Hall in Philadelphia in 1776, the arrangement of the group of figures 

*John Van Der Lyn was a native of Kingston, N. Y. (1776-1852), who earlv 
became a pupil of Gilbert Stuart, and later st-udied and resided in Europe. Ot 
many works his "Marius Seated Amid the Riiins of Carthage" brought him most 
fame. Returning to America, he devoted himself largely to painting the portraits 
of public men, and a collection of his sketches remains at Kingston. 

t "William H. Powell, born in New York in 1823 and died there in 1879, was an 
historical and portrait painter who began study under Inman and continued it 
in Florence and Paris. His historical pictures have been widely engraved and 
are popular in the United States, and his portraits are excellent. (See p. 40). 

:|:John Gadsby Chapman was born in Alexandria, Va., in 1808; studied art in 
Italy; was one of the earliest and most active of the members of the National 
Academy after his return to this country; and lived in New York tor many 
years as a general painter of high reputation, especially of miniature portraits, 
and an illustrator of books. He died in 1889. 

§ Robert "W. Weir, who. was born in New York in 1803, was for forty-two 
years Professor of Drawing at the United States Military Academy (West Point), 
and painted many historical and landscape pieces of high merit. He was the 
father of J. Alden and John F. Weir, both accomplished artists and the latter 
now Professor of Art at* Yale. With the money received for this picture he 
built the Church of the Holy Innocents at Highland Falls, N. Y. He died in 1889. 



26 HANDY GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

having been made as Jefferson, Franklin, and others of the fathers 
described it to him. The "Surrender of Burgoyne at Saratoga" is 
from sketches made by Trumbull on the spot, October 17, 1777. The 
artist was also present at the "Surrender of Lord Cornwallis at 
Yorktown," portrayed in the third painting. The fourth of the series 
is the "Resignation of Washington" as commander-in-chief of the 
American armies, which took place, closely as depicted, at Annapolis 
on December 23, 1783, where Congress was then in session in the 
old Maryland State House. Trumbull painted many pictures besides 
these, a large collection of which is preserved at Yale College, in 
New Haven, Conn., as the Trumbull Gallery. 

Above each of the eight paintings are panels with arabesque 
designs by Causici and Capellano, containing medallion heads of the 
four great pioneers of American discovery — Columbus, Raleigh, 
Cabot, and La Salle. They were done in 1827, and cost $9,500. 

The Frieze, ten feet wide, just beneath the gallery, was left blank 
for many years, but in 1878 the talented Brumidi began a series of 
paintings intended to encircle the room (300 feet) and to carry out the 
historical theme to which all the rotunda decorations conform. They 
are chiaroscuro drawings in distemper — that is, expressed merely in 
light and shade and painted with a glutinous medium upon the 
plaster. A procession of somewhat conventional figures in strong 
relief, imitating the alto-relievos which the architect had intended 
to place here, beginning over the western door and progressing to 
the right (north) and so on around, marches through the cardinal 
scenes in American progress. Brumidi had completed less than half 
of the circle when he died, in 1880. The work was then continued by 
his Italian assistant, Costagini, but is yet incomplete. The estimated 
expense of so decorating this frieze was $10,000 — the favorite con- 
gressional figure for art pieces — and it has often been spent to worse 
advantage than here. 

On the Canopy of the Dome is Brumidi's* masterpiece, "The 
Apotheosis of Washington." Glasses will help one to study it from 

♦Constantino Brumidi was born in Rome in 1805, studied art, and became a 
member of the Academy at thirteen. He painted frescoes in several Roman 
palaces, and worked in the Vatican for three years under Gregory XVI. The 
tradition is that he became involved in the European revolution of 1848, and was 
thrown into prison, whence he was freed, on account of his reputation, by the 
influence of Pius IX, but was banished from Italy. At any rate, after the French 
took possession of Rome he came to America, where he remained until 1854, and 
then went to Mexico to do frescoes. Returning to Washington, he was employed to 
take charge of the mural decorations of the Capitol. He began with the room 
of the House Committee on Agriculture, and these pictures are said to have been 



A TOUR OF THE CAPITOL. 27 

the floor, but it should be examined from the gallery to be appre- 
ciated. The artist worked upon it several years, and the cost was 
nearly $50,000, of which Brumidi received $39,500, and an exceedingly 
skillful and beautifying result was obtained. 

The central figure is Washington, with Freedom and Victory at 
his right and left, and around them are female figures to represent 
the original States of the Union. The border of the canopy contains 
six groups of emblematic figures, representing the Fall of Tyranny, 
Agriculture, Mechanics, Commerce, the Marine, and the Arts and 
Sciences. The painting is glowing with color, and every portion of 
it is finished in a very careful manner. 

The ascent of the Dome may be made by a stairway (376 steps) 
opening from the passage to the Senate wing, and it is possible to 
climb even to the foot of the statue. Visitors are ordinarily contented, 
however, to stop at the great galleries, exterior and interior, which 
encircle the base of the dome. The view thence is an exceedingly 
wide and interesting one, but differs little from that obtained from 
the summit of the Washington Monument (p. 93), which can be 
reached by an elevator; few persons, therefore, climb these tedious 
stairways. 

" The huge dome," says Evans, "rising in its classic beauty far 

above the main building, is a fitting crown to the noble edifice. It is of 

I cast iron and weighs nearly 4,000 tons. Large sheets of iron, securely 

j bolted together, rest on iron ribs, and by the plan used in its con- 

' struction the changes of temperature make its contraction and expan- 

I sion merely 'like the folding and unfolding of the lily.' It was 

I built from designs of Thomas U. Walter of Philadelphia, and cost 

^ $1,250,000. Eight years were required in its construction, so care- 

I fully was the work done, and as it is thoroughly protected from the 

, weather by thick coats of white paint, renewed yearly, it is likely to 

last for centuries. Its base consists of a peristyle of thirty-six fluted 

columns surmounted by an entablature and a balustrade. Then 

comes an attic story, and above this the dome proper. At the top is 

a gallery, surrounded by a balustrade, from which may be obtained 

a magnificent view of the city and its environs. ^ Rising from the 

i gallery is the 'lantern,' fifteen feet in diameter and fifty feet high, 

surrounded by a peristyle. Over the lantern is a globe, and standing 

on the globe is the bronze statue of Liberty, designed by Thomas 

\ Crawford and cast at Bladensburg, Md. It is nineteen feet six inches 

high, weighs seven and one-half tons, and cost more than $24,000. 

the first frescoes in the United States. He also did frescoes for St. Stephen's 
Church in New York and for the Philadelphia Cathedral. His death, in 1880, fol- 
lowed an injury received upon the scaffold while painting the frieze of the 
rotunda. His work is strong in drawing, excellent in idea, and brilliant in 
color, and is in the style of the best Italian methods. Whenever he represented 
a stated event or included a portrait he took great pains that it should be truthful. 



28 HANDY GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

It was placed in position December 2, 1863, amid the salutes from 
guns in Washington and the surrounding forts, and the cheers of the 
thousands of soldiers." 

This statue was lifted to its position in sections, afterward bolted 
together. The original plaster model in the National Museum 
enables one to study its features in detail. 

The rotunda has several times been the scene of the lying-in-state 
of the corpses of great Americans, but never so impressively as when 
the murdered Lincoln rested here in 1S65. 

The eastern door of the rotunda opens upon the grand portico of 
the eastern front. The carvings above it and the other doors have 
already been described. 

The western dcor leads to a rear stairway descending a narrow 
hall to the rear entrance of the Capitol and Pennsylvania Avenue. It 
also opens around the head of the stairway to the old Congressional 
Library, now moving into the magnificent new building described on 
pp. 49 to 55. The old library rooms occupy all the space in the west- 
era front of the central building, and open upon a balcony which 
gives an exceedingly interesting view toward the river, the Treasury, 
and the principal part of the city. 

The northern door leads to the Supreme Court (p. 45) and beyond 
that to the Senate Chamber (p. 39). 

The southern door admits to Statuary Hall and the House of 
Representatives, in the southern extension, to which attention may 
now be directed, as the first step in a reneral survey of the Capitol. 

Statuary Hall. — Passing through the southern door and a circular 
vestibule, we emerge into a semi-circular hall ninety-five feet in great- 
est width, whose ceiling is a half-dome sixty feet high, beneath which 
is a spacious gallery filled with the Library of the House of Rep- 
resentatives. This was the Hall of Rcprcscntaiives of the orig- 
inal Capitol, and as first built it was an oblong rectangular room. In 
rebuilding it, after the fire of 1S14, Latrobe converted it into a semi- 
circular room, taking as his model, tradition says, an ancient theater 
in Greece; and doubtless it was an extremely beautiful apartment 
when fresh in color, lighted at night, and filled with a brilliant 
assemblage. At the southern end is a grand arch, supported by 
columns of Potomac variegated marble (breccia), with white Italian 
capitals copied from relics in the ruins of Athens. Many other 
similar pillars form a colonnade about the room and sustain the 
profusely paneled ceiling. The cupola, which admits such poor 



BROAD AND LOCUST STREETS 

PHILADELPHIA 



!ik 





Absolutely Fireproof 
^* 

AMERICAN AND EUROPEAN PLANS 

Located in the finest part of the city, and convenient to Rail 
road Stations and leading theaters. 

STAFFORD, WHITAKER & KEECH, 

PROPRIETORS. 



A TOUR OF THE CAPITOL. 29 

light as the room now gets, was the work of a young ItaHan 
artist named Bonani, who died soon after, and who took his 
design from the Roman Pantheon. The arch is adorned with an 
eagle sculptured from life by Valperti, another Italian of high reputa- 
tion, while a dignified model for a statue of Liberty, wrought in 
plaster by Causici in 1S29, stands beneath the arch over the former 
position of the Speaker's desk. Opposite it, above the entrance door, 
remains the famous old marble clock. It is a notable object, and 
was executed in this city by C. Franzoni, an Italian sculptor, who 
died May 12, 1S19, but the design is said to have been drawn by 

I Latrobe. The theme is the Flight of Time. The Genius of His- 
tory is represented as standing gracefully upon the winged chariot of 
Progress, which is rolling over a globe belted with the signs pf the 

, Zodiac' History records the incidents of national life as Time 

; overtakes them, and the wheel of her swift chariot forms the dial of 

! the clock, which is marked with gilded figures. 

I The House of Representatives used this hall from 1808 until 1814, 

I and then from 1817 to the end of 1857. " Here," remark the authors 

' of " The National Capital," "Clay, Webster, the younger Adams, 

I Calhoun, Randolph, Cass, Burges, Wise, Forsyth, Corwin, Wright, 

and many others won reputation for statesmanship, and made the 

I walls ring with their fiery eloquence. Here were many fierce and 

j bitter wrangles over vexed questions — turbulent scenes, displays of 

sectional feeling ; and here also was much legislative action which 

has gone into history as wise and beneficial. . . The old hall 

appeared as follows in the latter years of its use by the House : The 

^ Speaker's chair and table stood on a rostrum four feet from the floor, 

I and back of the rostrum were crimson curtains, hanging in folds from 

^ the capitals of the ponderous marble columns which supported the 

I great arch of the hall. The clerk's desk stood below the rostrum, and 

I between the columns were sofas and tables for the reporters. The 

! Representatives were provided with mahogany desks and wide arm- 

] chairs, which were arranged in concentric circles. The hall could 

f accommodate 250 members. A bronzed iron railing with curtains 

j enclosed the outer row of desks, and this constituted the bar of the 

House. Beyond the railing was the members' lobby, and above the 

lobby were galleries seating about 500 persons. One of the galleries 

! was reserved for ladies, and in two of its panels were paintings of 

; Washington and Lafayette, which now hang in the present hall of the 

I House. Under the paintings were large copies of the Declaration of 

\ Independence in frames ornamented with national emblems. The 

hall was lighted by a chandelier, which hung from the center of the 

domed ceiling." 

It was in this hall that ex-President John Quincy Adams, then a 
Representative for Massachusetts, was prostrated at his desk, on Feb- 



30 HANDY GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

ruary 21, 1848, by paralysis, resulting in his death two days later. A 
star set in the floor marks the position of his desk. The gallery is 
now filled with the overflow of the House library from the neighbor- 
ing upper corridor, and the corners beneath, extending back to the 
rotunda wall, are occupied by the keeper of the House documents, 
and by the Committee on Enrolled Bills and its clerks. An inner office 
behind the latter is that of the clerk of the House, and is the room, 
then assigned to the Speaker, in which Adams died. 

The present use of this room as a haU of memorial statuary is 
due to a suggestion from the present Senator from Vermont, Justin 
S. Morrill, when he was a Representative, which resulted in an invita- 
tion by Congress, in 1864, to each State to send marble or bronze 
statues of two of her most illustrious sons for permanent preservation. 

As a beginning certain statues and busts owned by the Federal 
Government were collected here. They include Hubbard's plaster 
copy of Houdon's statue of Washington, the face of which was modeled 
from a plaster cast taken by Houdon* himself at Mt. Vernon in i';''5. 
Here also are Vinnie Ream Hoxie*s much-discussed statue of Lincoln, 
for which Congress paid $15,000 in 1870, after a long debate, in which 
vSenator Sumner made an illuminating speech on the application of 
art to the Capitol; Mrs. Fisher Ames's bust of Lincoln, upon a pedestal 
of Aberdeen granite (a gift), for which $2,000 was paid; and two 
marble statues by Stone. f One of these represents Alexander Hamil- 
ton (1756-1804), is dated 1868, and cost $10,000; and the other the 
Oregon Senator and Union soldier, Col. Edward D. Baker, who was 
killed at Ball's Bluff in 1861; for this $10,000 was paid. The statue 
of Jefferson here has the following history, according to Ben. Perley 
Poore: "A spirited bronze statue of Jefferson by his admirer, the 
French sculptor, David d' Angers, was presented to Congress by 
Lieut. Uriah P. Levy, but Congress declined to accept it, and 
denied it a position in the Capitol. It was then reverentially taken 
in charge by two naturalized citizens, stanch Democrats, and placed 
on a small pedestal in front of the White House. One of these 
worshipers of Jefferson was the public gardener, Jimmy Maher; the 

*Jean Antoine Houdon, who was a cultivated French sculptor (1741-182S"), 
educated in Paris and Rome, was employed by the State of Virginia to make a 
statue of Washington. He came and studied his subject, resided tor several 
weeks with the family at Mount Vernon, cast his face, and then made in Italy 
the original of this statue, now in the capitol at Richmond. It is the most 
faithful portrait in existence of the Father of his Country. This copy cost $2,000. 

+ Dr. Horatio Stone was born in New England about 18 10; studied and prac- 
ticed medicine in New York. Later he became a sculptor and resided in 
Washington, where several statues perpetuate his memory. He spent many ot 
his latter years in Italy and died there in 1875. (See p. 43.) 



A TOUR OF THE CAPITOL. 31 

other was John Foy, keeper of the restaurant in the basement of the 
Capitol and famous for his witty sayings." Here also will be found 
marble busts of Kosciusko, the Hungarian patriot, by H. D. Saunders, 
$500; of Pulaski, the Polish soldier of the Revolution, by H. Dmo- 
chowski; of Thom.^s Crawford, the sculptor (p. 22); of Senator J. J. 
Crittenden of Kentucky, author of the "Crittenden Compromise' 
measure and Harrison's Attorney-General, by Joel T. Hart; and 
a portrait of Joshua R. Giddings by Miss C. L. Ransom, costing 
$1,000. 

A few States have sent the effigies called for, and they stand in 
the dim light as if petrified with surprise at the miscellaneous company 
of greatness in which they find themselves, and the tedium of wait- 
ing to be let out. Some are of high merit, but many are not, and 
none can be fairly estimated or enjoyed when set up in this gloomy 
and echoing hall, like a lot of gravestones exposed for sale in a 
dealer's warerooms. Following is a catalogue of these State statues: 
Rhode Island: Gen. Nathaniel Greene (i 742-1 786; see p. 57) by 
(H. K. Brown, * 1869; and Roger Williams (1606-1683) by Franklin 
(Simmons, f 1870. 

I Connect I'cttt: Gov. Jonathan Trumbull (the original " Brother 
'Jonathan," 1 710-1785) and Roger Sherman, one of the Signers (1721- 
11793). both the work of C. B. Ives, and placed here in 1872. 
I New York: Vice-President George Clinton (1739-1812) by H. K. 
Brown, and cast by Wood in Philadelphia in 1873; Chancellor Robert 
(Livingston (1747-1813) by E. D. Palmer, X cast by Barbedienne in 
I Paris in 1874; and Gen. James Shields, by Leonard W. Volk. All 
these are of bronze. 

* Henry Kirke Brown was born in Massachusetts in 18 14. He studied paint- 
ling in Boston, went to Albany, N Y., and then to Italy. He returned in 1846 and 
i settled in Brooklyn, N. Y. He modeled the equestrian statue of Washington 
jnow in Union Square, New York, the Scott Statue in Washington (p 124), and 

many portrait-statues. He was the chairman of an Art Commission, appointed 
I by Congress in 1859, to advise it as to the rules of taste that should govern the 
j decoration of the Capitol; its report is printed in House Executive Documents, 

36th Congress, ist Session, Vol VI, No. 43, March 9, i860. Mr. Brown died in 1886. 

+ Franklin Simmons was born in Maine in 1841, and was attracted toward art 

'from boyhood. During the war he spent his time in sketching and modeling the 

Union leaders, and made highly satisfactory busts of Lincoln, Seward, Chase, 
i Grant, Sheridan, Meade, and many others. The commission for this statue 
I enabled him to open a studio in Rome, where he has since resided and has pro- 
Iduced many other notable works, including several in this city. 

$ Erastus Dow Palmer was born in Onondaga County, N. Y., in 1817, was a 
Icarpenter, then a cameo-cutter, but did not attempt sculpture until 1835, when he 
•met with instant success. His works are nuinerous, including the well-known 
I "Angel of the Resurrection" at the entrance to Rural Cemetery in Albany, 
jN. Y. He resides in Europe. 

i 



32 HANDY GUIDE TO WASH I KG TON. 

Massachusetts: Gov. John Winthrop (15 88-1 649) by Richard S. 
Greenough (a brother of Horatio Greenough, p. 18), 1876; and 
Samuel Adams (i 722-1 803) by Anne Whitney, * 1876. 

Vermo7it: Col. Ethan Allen (1737-1789), a colossal marble figure, 
date 1875, by Larkin G. Mead of that State; and Senator Jacob Col- 
lamer (i 791-1865). 

Maine: Gov. William King (i 768-1852) by F. Simmons, 1877. 

Pe7i7isylvania: Robert Fulton (1765-1815), who was born in this 
State, but made his career elsewhere, by Helen Blanche Nevin, 1883; 
and Gen. John P. G. Muhlenberg (i 746-1 807), the soldier-preacher 
of the Revolution. 

Ohio: President James A. Garfield (1831-1881) and Senator and 
Governor William Allen. Both are by Charles E. Niehaus of New 
York, who is also a large contributor to the statuary in the new 
Library of Congress. 

New Jersey: Richard Stockton (1730-1781), one of the Signers, 
in marble; and Gen. Philip Kearney (1815-1862) in bronze. Both are 
from models by H. K. Brown. 

Michiga?i: Lewis Cass (i 782-1866), Senator and Secretary of 
State, by Daniel Chester French — dated 1887, the sculptor of many 
portrait-statues, and of the colossal " Statue of the Republic" for the 
Columbian Exhibition. 

Statuary Hall has surprising acoustic properties, which the Capi- 
tol guides have learned, and apply to the amusement of sightseers 
and their own profit. Curious echoes, whispers distinct at a dis- 
tance, and ability to hear what is inaudible to a person at your 
elbow, are among the curiosities of sound observable at certain 
points. The Capitol guides, it may be remarked, include some 
very well-informed men, who can make themselves of great use to a 
stranger in this immense and storied building; and it is the only 
place in the city where a professional guide is of any use whatever. 
The Capitol guides are permitted to charge fifty cents an hour, but 
are often cheerfully paid much more. 

The House of Representatives.— Leaving Statuary Hall by the 
door under the arch, you quit the limits of the old Capitol, and 
traverse the corridor to the southern or House wing. The principal 
doors of the House confront you as you reach the lobby, each 
guarded, if Congress is in session, by doorkeepers, whose business 
it is to see that none enter who have not "the rights of the floor." 

*Anne Whitney was born in Watertown, Mass., in 1821, and has done much 
of high merit in poetry and sculpture, notably in the latter class her statue of 
Harriet Martineau at Wellesley College and the fountain of Leif Eriksen in Bos- 
ton, the model for the statue of which is now in the National Museum. 



A TOUR OF THE CAPITOL. 33 

T/w Hall of Representatives {oq.q,\x^\qA since December i6, 1857) 
is an oblyng room 139 feet long by 93 wide and 36 high, the "floor" 
being 115 by 67 feet. The ceiling is a framework of iron, bronzed 
and gilded, inlaid with glass, upon which the coats-of-arms of the 
States are painted, mellowing rather than obscuring the abundant 
light. The Speaker's raised desk is against the southern wall, and 
below him are the marble desks of the clerks and official reporters, 
the latter keeping a stenographic record of everything done or said, 
to be published in The Co?tgressi07ial Record next morning. The 
assistant doorkeeper sits at the Speaker's left, and the sergeant-at- 
1 arms within easy call. This latter officer is the Speaker's policeman 
— the representative of the physical force which backs up the civil 
rule ; and his symbol of authority is the mace, which reposes on a 
marble pedestal at the right of the Speaker. 

"The mace w^as adopted by the House in the First Congress, and 
has been in use ever since. When it is placed on its pedestal, it 
' signifies that the House is in session and under the Speaker's 
I authority; when it is placed on the floor, that the House is in com- 
! mittee of the whole. The mace is a bundle of black rods fastened 
' with transverse bands of silver, like the ^om.a.n fasces. On its top 
' is a silver globe surmounted by a silver eagle. When the sergeant- 
at-arms is executing the commands of the Speaker, he is required to 
' bear aloft the mace in his hands." 

I Grouped in concentric semicircles are the desks of the Representa- 

I tives, all small, uniform, and handsome, those of the Republican 

party on the Speaker's left and those of the Democratic party on the 

I right. When a division of the House takes place, all come down the 

side aisles into the space in front of the clerk's desk, and pass out up 

the central aisle between counting-tellers. Over the Speaker's head 

is the press gallery, and doors lead to the lobby and retiring rooms 

jin the rear. Beneath the galleries, in rear of the Representatives' 

I desks, are "cloak-rooms" — small apartments where the Members not 

i only hang up their hats and overcoats, but smoke and talk beyond 

the hubbub of the House. Twelve hundred spectators may be 

j crowded into the galleries. 

I The Hall of Representatives is a business-like room — elegant but 
I not over-ornamented. It is carpeted and draped in warm colors, but 
jthe prevailing tone of the decoration is white and gold. At the right 
of the chair hangs a full-length portrait of Washington as President, 
by Van der Lyn (p. 25), ordered by Congress in 1832, to signalize 
the hundredth anniversary of Washington's birth, and delivered in 



34 HANDY GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

1S34, at the price of $2,500. On the left is Ary Scheffer's* portrait of 
Lafayette, painted in 1822, and presented to Congress by that artist 
in 1824. The panel at the right of the "Washington" is taken by 
Bierstadt'sf painting of the "King's River Canon," while occupying 
the corresponding panel on the west, adjoining the Lafayette, is the 
"Discovery of the Hudson"*by the same artist, who was paid $10,000 
for each. Adjoining the last named is a fresco by Brumidi, repre- 
senting Washington treating with Cornwallis for the surrender of his 
army at Yorktown — a gift to Congress from this painter. 

Corridors surround the House, paved with Minton tiles, wain- 
scoted with marble, and having decorated ceilings and other adorn- 
ments. Turning to the right (west) at the entrance (p. 32), you find, 
just beyond the corner, the Western Grand Staircase, leading to the 
attic story or gallery floor. 

This staircase is double, with massive balustrades of polished 
Tennessee marble, and is lighted from the roof through stained glass. 
At the foot is a bronze bust of a Chippewa Chief, Bee-she-kee or The 
Buffalo, modeled from life in 1855 by Vincenti. The opposite wall is 
largely covered by the fresco by Leutze,:}: representing, in a somewhat 
stiff, conventional, and poor manner, western emigration under the 
title " Westward, Ho !" The action in the figures is the best part of 
the composition, for which the enormous price of $20,000 was paid. 
Strips of wall beside the picture are highly decorated. That on the 
right contains a portrait of Daniel Boone, as a typical explorer, and 
the motto : " The spirit grows with its allotted spaces ; the mind is 
narrowed in a narrow sphere." That on the left has a portrait of 
Col. William Clark, to whose energetic action the LTnited States 
mainly owes its early possession of the Ohio Valley, with a familiar 
misquotation from Jonathan M. Sewall, which should read : 

* Ary Scheffer (1795-1858) sprang from an artistic German family. He was 
educated at Paris and soon became well known as a painter of emotional genre 
pictures. He never became a great artist, but was widely known and popular 
on account of his high intelligence and amiable characteristics. He was closely 
associated with Louis Phillipe, and died in 1858. 

f Albert Bierstadt was born in Germany in 1829, but came to America when 
an infant. He had an opportunity of going to the Rocky Mountains about 1858, 
after which he went to Paris for art study. Returning, he traveled repeatedly to 
the far We.st, and his always conspicuous paintings of Rocky Mountain scenery 
were very popular. He lived at Irvington, on the Hudson, until his death 
in 1890. 

% Emanuel Leutze was of German birth (1816), but passed his youth in Phila- 
delphia. He studied art in Europe, especially at Diisseldorf, and devoted him- 
self to historical subjects, which he treated with vigor. His leading painting is 
that of Washington crossing the Delaware. This and several other Revolution- 
ary pictures have been engraved and are widely known. He died in Washingv 
ton in 1868, 



A TOUR OF THE CAPITOL. 35 

No pent-up Utica contracts your powei^s, 
But the whole boundless continent is yours. 

, Beneath Leutze's fresco is a similarly treated sketch by Bierstadt, 
of the Golden Gate, or entrance to the Bay of San Francisco, Cali- 
fornia. 

The rooms beyond the staircase are offices of the clerks of the 
House, and the fourth (in the corner) is the Speaker's room. An 
elevator is near here. 

Turning down the corridor, across the southern end of the wing 
and in rear of the hall, the handsome retiring-rooms of the Repre- 
' sentatives are passed; and at- the end, opposite the basement stairs, 
I is the House lobby. 

This basement stairzvay is one of the four beautiful, bronze-railed, 
1 private stairs leading down to committee rooms, etc., on the floor 
1 below, which are found at opposite corners of the halls of both the 
I Senate and the House. Their balustrades are exquisite works of art 
( in metal, were cast in Philadelphia after designs by Bandia, and cost 
j something over $500 each. It is worth an effort to see them. 

The House Lobby is richly furnished, and contains many por- 
( traits — most of which are inferior crayon -drawings — of the Speakers 
of the past, who find themselves in a sort of legal obscurity delight- 
fully suitable to the mysterious bargains and vague ' ' understandings " 
associated with this apartment, where Congressmen confer with those 
whom they choose to admit. This and the adjoining apartments 
are not open to public inspection after noon when Congress is in 
session. 

Passing another bronze-railed stairway and turning to the left, 
three committee-rooms of great interest are passed on the eastern 
front of this wing. In the corner is that of the Committee on Ajjpro- 
priations ; next comes that on Ways and Means, which is richly 
frescoed ; and in the further (northeastern) corner is that of Mi'/itary 
\ Affah's, hung with a notable collection of paintings of the principal 
forts of the United States, gathered by Lieutenant-Colonel Eastman, 
U. S. A. From this corridor the Eastern Grand Staircase, similar 
to the western, ascends to the gallery floor. At its foot is Powers' " 

* Hiram Powers, born in Vermont in 1805, died in Italy, 1873, was a sculptor 
who developed great powers out of self-taught beginnings. In 1835 he came to 
Washington, and modeled busts of distinguished statesmen until he was able to 
go to Italy, where he studied and made his home in Florence. He modeled fine 
.statues of Washington for Louisiana, Calhoun for South Carolina, and Webster 
for Massachusetts. His "Eve" excited the admiration of Thorwaldsen and other 
artists abroad, and his exquisite " Greek Slave " gave him a national reputation. 



36 HANDY GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

statue of Thomas J ciff'cr son, which cost $10,000, but is difficult to see. 
Over the landing hangs Frank B. Carpenter's painting of the " Sign- 
ing of the Proclamation of Emancipation," by President Lincoln, in 
the presence of his cabinet, September 22, 1862, presented to Con- 
gress in 1878 by Mrs. Elizabeth Thompson. Mr. Carpenter was for 
a considerable time an inmate of Lincoln's family at the White House, 
and has written many interesting reminiscences of that time. 

Ascending to the attic floor we may again make the circuit of 
this wing through corridors whose inner doors open into the galleries 
of the House. At the top of the staircase hangs a full-length por- 
trait of Henry Clay, painted- by Neagle* in 1843. It is flanked on 
one side by a portrait of Charles Carroll of Carroll ton, the last sur- 
vivor of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, painted by 
Chester Harding, a contemporary and rival of Gilbert Stuart, and on 
the other side by a portrait of Gunning Bedford, a member of the 
Continental Congress from Delaware, painted by Gilbert Stuartf and 
presented by his family. 

Turning the corner toward the left we walk along the corridor in 
rear of the House galleries, the distribution of which is indicated by 
labels over the doors. The most conspicuous compartment is that 
devoted to the press, which has a broad space over the Speaker's head 
and facing the House; it is fltted with desks, and governed by strin- 
gent rules made by a committee of correspondents. More than half 
of the gallery, with seats for some 500 persons, is open to the public, 
which may come and go at will; portions of this are nominally 
reserved for ladies; but gentlemen with them may also enter. A 
private room for ladies, with a woman attendant, will be found in 
the south front. Certain rooms on this floor are devoted to House 
committees and other official purposes, and the second story of the 
corridor connecting this gallery with that of Statuary Hall is filled 

* John Neagle ( 1 797-1865) was a Boston man who began to paint landscapes 
about 1818, and later turned to portraiture, painting, among others, a portrait of 
Gilbert Stuart, now in Boston. He married a daughter of Thomas Sully, an 
eminent portrait painter of his time (p. 45), and lived in Philadelphia. His 
most notable portraits are this of Clay and one of Henry C. Carey. 

+ Gilbert Charles Stuart was born in Rhode Island in 1754 and died in Boslim 
in 1828. He was taken to Edinburgh when eighteen years of age by a Scotch 
artist named Alexander, but soon returned and painted at Newport, Boston, and 
New York. When the War for Independence broke out he went to London, 
received instruction from Benjamin West, and rose to eminence. In Paris he 
painted a portrait of Louis XIV. He returned to America in 179^ and painted, 
from life, a portrait of Washington [of which he afterward made some thirty 
copies], and many worthies of the Revolutionary period. He is regarded as 
one of the best portrait painters America has ever produced.—^./. Lossing. 



A TOUR OF THE CAPITOL. 87 

with the House's file of public documents, bound uniformly in sheep- 
skin, and now numbering nearly 150,000 volumes. The early records 
of Congress are very valuable. The only picture here is that of 
Chief Justice Marshall, which hangs opposite the head of the western 
staircase, and is an excellent full-length painted by R. N. Brooke in 
18S0. 

The basement of the House, to which an elevator makes a con- 
venient descent, contains the House post office (southeast corner); 
committee and clerks' rooms, of which several are elaborately fres- 
coed ; a public restaurant (at the foot of the eastern staircase); 
elaborate bath-rooms for Representatives, and public lavatories for 
men (at the foot of the western stairway). 

The room of the Committee on Agriculture was decorated by 
Brumidi, as his introductory work, with what some critics have pro- 
nounced the best frescoes in the building. They represent Cincin- 
natus called from his fields to be dictator, and Putnam going from 
his plow to be a general in the Continental army. There are also 
sketches contrasting harvests in ancient and modern times, and medal- 
lions of Washington and Jefferson. Figures of Flora (spring), Ceres 
(summer), Bacchus (autumn), and Boreas (winter) accent the decora- 
tion of the ceiling. The Committee on Indian Affairs has the bene- 
fit of wall paintings of Indian scenes executed by Lieutenant-Colonel 
Eastman, U. S. A., whose collection of pictures of forts, largely 
painted by himself, is preserved in the room of the House Committee 
on Military Affairs (p. 35). 

The sub-basement beneath this part of the building contains the 
elaborate machinery for heating and ventilating the Hall of Repre- 
sentatives and this wing generally. Fresh air is drawn in from a 
remote part of the grounds (p. 18), and its temperature, degree of 
dryness, etc., are regulated by ingenious machinery, which is open to 
inspection by visitors who wish to descend to the engine-room. A 
similar apparatus is in the Senate sub-basement for the service of the 
north wing. The central part of the sub-basement is a labyrinth of 
dark archways used for storage when used at all. 

A basement corridor extends from end to end of the Capitol on 
this ground floor, and furnishes a convenient means of reaching 
the Senate wing without retracing one's steps. The w^hite marble 
pillars will at once attract the eye. The connoisseur will remark that 
though of Corinthian mold, their floriated capitals represent leaves 
of American plants. This was a pretty notion of Benj. H. Latrobe, 
and a still finer example exists in the Senate vestibule (p. 41). Half- 



B8 HANDY GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

way down this corridor through the basement (which really is the 
ground floor, numerous doors opening directly upon the plaza and 
terrace), we come to the Crypt, an apartment formed of the spaces 
between the forty Doric columns that support the massive brick arches 
upon which is laid the floor of the rotunda; a star in the pavement 
marks the center of the building immediately beneath the dome. A 
large part of the crypt has been walled off for storage (?f library 
books. A passage to the left leads out to the western entrance and 
up-stairs into the rotunda; and another leads to the basement doors 
under the grand portico of the eastern front. 

The Uitdet^croft is the name applied to the vault beneath the 
crypt, intended by the founders of the Republic as the mausoleum of 
Washington and his family; but these good people preferred to be 
buried at Mt. Vernon, and the " undercroft" remains empty. 

Passing onward, a few steps take one past the light-shaft to the 
door (on the right) of the old Supreme Court Chamber, immediately 
under the present chamber. It was in this room, now filled with the 
exceedingly ftiU and valuable law library of the court, that all the 
great cases were heard i^revious to 1857. A few steps farther carry 
one out of the old main building and into the 

Basement of the Senate Wing. Here there is a public restau- 
rant, public lavatories for both men and women, and many offices 
and committee rooms. All the corridors and vestibules at this end 
are well lighted, and the walls and ceilings are very profusely and 
elaborately decorated with mural designs in the Italian manner, 
daintily drawn and brightly colored. Among them are many por- 
traits. The vestibule of the Senate post office, in the northwest 
corner, is particularly picturesque, having over the post-office door a 
large painting of Fulton, pointing, as if from a balcony, to his first 
steamboat, the Claremont, passing the Palisades of the Hudson. 
The door of the Committee on Post-Office Affairs is sviitably indicated 
by a sprightly picture of Franklin, who organized the American 
post office; while over the opposite d(K)r is a likeness of Fitch, 
Fulton's competitor in developing the idea of steam navigation. 

Other especially fine freseoes are to be seen in the room of the 
Senate committees on Indian Affairs, Naval Affairs, Military Affairs 
(where Revolutionary battles are pictured in glorious colors), and 
Foreign Affairs; the doors of the latier and of the Committee on 
Patents are further distinguished by frescoes by Brumidi above the 
lintels — in the former case " The Signing of the Treaty of Cheiil,' 




THE SHERIDAN GATE AT ARLINGTON. 



A TOUR OF THE CAPITOL. 89 

and in the latter a full-length picture of Robert Fulton. The ren- 
dering over and over in painting and carving of the same subjects 
and faces is one of the peculiarities of the unsystematic and ununi- 
form embellishment of the Capitol. 

A stairway or an elevator at either the eastern or western end of 
the main corridor will take one up to the main story of the Senate 
wing. Here, as in the southern wing, corridors extend completely 
around the Senate Chamber, which occupies the center of this wing. 

The Senate Chamber is 113 feet long, 80 feet wide, and 36 feet 
high, including the galleries, which extend all around and will 
accommodate about 1,000 persons. The space under the galleries 
on the east, west, and south sides is partitioned into cloak rooms for 
the Senators, while on the north side is the Senate lobby. The area 
of the floor is diminished by these rooms to 84 feet long by 51 wide. 

The flat ceiling of iron girders inclosing broad panels of glass, 
painted with emblems of the Union, Progress, the Army, the Navy, 
the Mechanic Arts, etc., admits a soft light day and night. The 
marble walls are paneled by pilasters in couples, and the doors are 
of choice mahogany. The carpet is usually green, setting off well 
the rich old mahogany desks of quaint pattern, which, with the chairs, 
are now uniform, and the profuse gilding about the walls and ceiling. 

Each desk bears a silver plate with the occupant's name. A Senator 
keeps a desk only during a single Congress, drawnng lots at the be- 
ginning of the next for a choice of seats — the Republicans sitting at 
the left, and the Democrats at the right of the presiding officer. 
Some desks are old and historic, being the same at which Senators 
distinguished in the early history of the Republic sat and wrote and 
delivered their forensic thunders. In the Fifty-fourth Congress, for 
example, that occupied by Mr. Allison was the desk at which Han- 
nibal Hamlin, of Maine, sat. Senator Cockrell occupied the desk iised 
by Jefferson Davis, and Mr. Walthall that once occupied by Oliver P. 
Morton of Indiana. The desk at which Mr. Roach sat, on the back row 
of the Democratic side, was that of Mr. Edmunds. Senator Teller 
had that of " Zach " Chandler, and Senator Hoar .sat behind the same 
desk at which Sumner sat. The desk occupied by Mr. Blaine is now 
used by Senator Hale, and is in the same spot. The old seat of Mr. 
Conkling is now used by Senator Murphy, of New York, and Sen ""tor 
Lodge sits behind the desk where Henry Wilson sat. 

The President of the Senate is the Vice-President of the United 
States. He sits upon a platform within an arched niche and behind 
a broad desk. At his right is the sergeant-at-arms, and at his left 
the assistant doorkeeper. In front of him, a step lower down, is 
the desk of the Senate clerks, and in front of that, on the floor of 



40 HANDY GUIDE TO WASIIINGTOX. 

the arena, the tables of the official reporters. The press gallery is 
behind the President, and facing him are the galleries reserved for 
the Diplomatic Corps, and for Senators' families. The end galleries 
are open to the public, the eastern one being set apart for women, 
who will find a convenient parlor and retiring-room, with a female 
attendant, at its northern extremit}-. 

Busts of all the Vtce-Presnlents are being i3laced in niches in 
the walls, a recent embellishment, of which the following is a roster, 
with the names of the sculptors : 

John Adams (Daniel C. French), Thomas Jefferson (M. Ezekiel), 
Aaron Burr (Jacques Joavenal), George Clinton (Victor A. Crane), 
Elbridge Gerry (Herbert Adams), Daniel Tompkins (C. H. Niehaus), 
Martin Van Buren (U. S. J. Dunbar), George M. Dallas (H. J. Elli- 
cott), Hannibal Hamlin (Franklin Simmons), Henry Wilson (Dan. C. 
French), W. A. Wheeler (Edwin Potter), Chester A. Arthur (Aug. 
St. Gaudens), Thomas A. Hendricks (U. S. J. Dunbar), Levi P. Mor- 
ton (F. Edwin Elwell), Adlai E. Stevenson (Franklin Simmons). Busts 
of Calhoun and R. M. Johnson are not yet read}-. 

Outside the Sejtate Chamber many interesting things are to be 
seen on the main floor. Turning to the right from the main or 
rotunda entrance to the wing (and to the floor of the chamber), you 
find on the end wall a famous portrait of Washington by Gilbert 
Stuart (p. 36), which was bought by Congress in 1876, from ex-Senator 
Chestnut of South Carolina, for $1 ,200. Opposite it is a bright portrait 
of John Adams, copied by Andrews from Gilbert Stuart. Passing 
through the door between these portraits, and turning to the left, 
you come to the magnificent eastern staircase of Tennessee marble, 
illuminated b}' a rich skylight of stained glass. At its foot stands 
Powers' marble statue of Benjamin Franklin, which cost $10,000. 
The wall of the stair-landing bears Powell's (p. 36) striking paint- 
ing (an enlarged copy, for which $25,000 was paid by contract in 1873, 
of an earlier picture, 1S63, made by Powell for the State of Ohio) 
of Com. Oliver P. Perry at the battle of Lake Erie, in iSio, trans- 
ferring himself and his flag from his sinking flagship " Lawrence " to 
the " Niagara," in which he won a signal victor}-. 

This transfer was made under fire. Perry's younger brother, 
Matthew (who afterward opened Japan to the world), was then a mid- 
shipman, and is depicted here as entreating his brother and comman- 
der not to expose himself so recklessly. The faces of the sailors were 
drawn from once well-known emplo3'-es about the Capitol. 

Just beyond the staircase is a noble vestibule, with coupled col- 



A TOUR OF THE CAPITOL. 41 

umns, having Corinthian capitals, designed by Latrobe, though usually 
credited to Jefferson, and composed of a most graceful arrangement 
of Indian corn and tobacco leaves in place of the conventional 
acanthus. They are of white marble, but the walls are of scagi- 
iola. This vestibule opens upon the eastern -portico through the 
Senate Bronze Doors designed by Thomas Crawford, cast by J. T. 
Ames at Chicopee, Mass., and set up here in 1868. 

This work of art is equally interesting, and the workmanship as 

fine in every respect as the main door. The upper panel of each 

valve (one of which represents War and the other Peace, as typified 

in the figures in the foot- panel of each half) contains a star surrounded 

' by oak leaves, and acts as a ventilator. There are six panels, con- 

! stituting the body of the door, in which are represented, in alto- 

7'elievo, events connected with the Revolution, the foundation of our 

Government, and the erection of the Capitol, chronologically as fol- 

' lows: The battles of Bunker Hill, Monmouth, and Yorktown ; the 

' welcome of Washington in Trenton on his way to New York in 1789 

: (the same panel contains portraits of the sculptor, his wife, three 

' children, and of Rogers, the sculptor of the main door); the inaugura- 

' tion of Washington in 1789, and the laying the corner-stone of the 

I Capitol, September 18, 1793. The prominent figures are all like- 

I nesses. In the inauguration scene John Adams stands on Washing- 

j ton's right; Chancellor Livingston administers the oath, and Mr. 

! Otis holds the Bible. The remaining figures are Alexander Ham- 

I ilton, Generals Knox and St. Clair, Roger Sherman, and Baron 

i Steuben. The frame over the door is supported by enriched brack- 

I ets. The ornamentation is scroll-work and acanthus, with the cotton 

(boll, stalks and ears of earn, grapes, and entwining vines. Above 

] the door are two sculptured figures in American marble representing 

(Justice and -History by Crawford, whose price was $3,000. It \viil 

I be remembered, also, that Crawford designed the figures that fill 

the pediment of this portico (p. 22). This bronze door was his latest 

work; he was paid $6,000 for the designs, and Wm. H. Rinehart 

was given $8,940 for the plaster model, while the casting (14,000 

pounds) cost $50,500. 

Returning into the vestibule, it is well to turn aside through the 
first door, at the right, and see Brumidi's excellent frescoes in the room 
\oi\\iQ Senate Committee on the District of Columbia. This was 
(originally assigned to be the Senate post office, whence the artist's 
I choice of History, Geography, Physics, and the Telegraph, as sub- 
I jects for his brush. The figures in each design are large and strik- 
iingly drawn, and the decorative accessories are most pleasing. 

This vestibule opens at its inner end on the right into the Senate 
reception room, an apartment sixty feet long, but divided by an arch 
where Senators receive callers — especially ladies — upon business. It 



42 HANDY GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

is gaudily ornate. The floor is of Minton tiles, and the walls are 
covered with rococo designs in stucco, in high relief, and heavily gilded. 
The vaulted ceiling has also many gilded stucco ornaments, and 
certain panels are embellished with allegorical frescoes by Brumidi, 
entitled "Liberty," "Plenty," "Peace," "War," "Prudence," 
"Justice," "Temperance," and "Strength"; while an excellently- 
drawn and brilliantly-colored mural painting, under the arch on 
the south wall, depicts Washington in conference wnth Jefferson 
and Hamilton — one of the best things in the Capitol. 

This room opens eastwardly into the office of the sergeant-at-arms, 
where a very large ceiling painting is visible, and westwardly it opens 
into the lobby. 

In the Senate Lobby, entering from the public reception room, 
as above noted, the first door at the right opens into the Vice-Presi- 
dent's Room, where Henry Wilson died, November 22, 1875, and 
whose bust by Daniel C. French remains here as a memento. 

The next door admits to the Marble Room — a large senatorial 
reception or withdrawing room, popularly so-called because every 
part of its interior is formed of variegated and sculptured marbles, 
all from East Tennessee except the white Italian capitals and ceil- 
ings. Here the " grave and reverend " Senators hold consultations 
at ease, or receive their more privileged guests. Luxurious chairs, 
soft sofas, warm rugs, and lace curtains abound, and the room is 
dazzling at night when all the lights are aglow. 

Next west of this splendid saloon is the President's Room, 
another ornate apartment where it has been the custom, since 
Andrew Johnson's time (except in Cleveland's case), for Presidents to 
sit during the last day of a congressional session, in order to be 
ready to sign bills requiring an immediate signature. This room is 
brilliantly decorated, including medallion portraits of President 
Washington and prominent members of his first cabinet — Thomas 
Jefferson, Secretary of State; Henry Knox, Secretary of War; Alex- 
ander Hamilton, Secretary of the Treasury; Edmund Randolph, 
Attorney-General, and Samuel Osgood, Postmaster-General. The 
four corner-frescoes overhead represent Columbus (Discovery), Ves- 
pucius (Exploration), Franklin (History), and William Brewster 
(Religion). Between these are symbolic figures of Liberty, Legisla- 
tion, Religion, and Executive Power. All this work is by the versa- 
tile Brumidi, and in his best vein. The tiling of this and of the 
adjoining rooms is covered in winter by rich carpeting. 




THE SENATORIAL RECEPTION OR "MARBLE ROOM. 



A TOUR OF THE CAPITOL. 43 

This lobby and the three rooms last named are not visible 
during sessions of Congress, except by the courtesy of some Senator. 

The rooms opening from the corridor west of the vSenate Cham- 
ber belong to the clerks and certain committees, and call for no 
special remark. The visitor may therefore pass on at once to the 
western grand staircase of white American marble and ascend to 
the gallery floor. 

Dr. Horatio Stone's (p. 30) statue of John Hancock stands at the 
foot of this staircase. It was sculptured in 1861, and bought for 
15,500. On the wall of the landing is the large painting, by Walker,* 
of the " Storming of Chepultepec" (captured by Scott's army on Sep- 
tember 13, 1847, during the Mexican War), for which $6,000 was paid. 
Roose says that it was "originally painted for a panel in tUe Com- 
mittee-room of Military Affairs of the House, and doubtless will 
eventually be placed there." At the head of the stairway hangs 
a full-length portrait of Washington, by Wilson Peale, f painted in 
1779, the first sittings for which were given at Valley Forge. 

This west corridor admits one to the gentlemen's and to one of 
the reserved galleries of the Senate, and to numerous committee 
rooms. The rooms in the northern front of the wing, behind the 
press gallery, are not public. « 

Turning to the right from the elevator, or from the head of the 
stairs, let us walk around through the south corridor, whose doors 
admit to the Senate galleries, to the head of the eastern grand stair- 
way (p. 40), where the beautiful and faithful painting of the ''Recall 
of Columbtts " merits close attention. The artist was Aug. G. Heaton, 
who was paid $3,000 for this picture, painted in 1882. Immediately 

* James "Walker was an Englishman, born in 1819, who was early brought to 
New York, where he studied art, and later went to California, where he lived 
and painted until his death in 1889. His works were mostly pictures of military 
scenes, of which the best known, besides this example, were the " Battle of 
Lookout Mountain," painted for General Hooker, and widely exhibited, and 
"The Repulse of Longstreet at Gettysburg." 

+ Charles Wilson Peale was a Philadelphian (1741-1827) who possessed a 
remaikable aptitude for all sorts of ingenious employments, having, for instance, 
been the first American dentist to make artificial teeth, and having a wide 
renown as a taxidermist, student, and lecturer upon natural historj-. He was 
the organizer of Peaie's famous old museum in Philadelphia, and was of great 
assistance to both Wilson and Audubon, the naturalists. When he turned his 
attention to portrait painting he was instructed lirst by Copley, in Boston, and 
afterward in London at the Royal Academy. In 1772, according to Lossing, 
he painted the first portrait of Washington ever executed, in the costume of a 
Virginia colonel; and, at the same time, he painted a miniature of Mrs. Wash- 
ington. He did military service and carried on portrait painting during the 
War for Independence, and for fifteen years he was the only portrait painter in 
America. Mr. Peale painted several portraits of Washington, among them one 
for Houdon's use in making his statue of the patriot (p. 30). 



44 HANDY GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

beyond the stairway are two of the most interesting rooms ni the 
biiilding, a hall looking out upon the plaza, and another, adjoining, 
having a delightful prospect northward. These rooms not only con- 
tain fine tiling and mural decorations, but some notable paintings. 
In the former are Moran's * celebrated pictures of the canons of the 
Colorado and of the Yellowstone, which were painted from actual 
studies, and sold to the Government for |io,ooo each. Those familiar 
with these marvelous regions of the country, know that the coloring 
is by no means too vivid, and that the drawing is highly expressive. 
Other art objects also adorn this room, whose tiled floor and stucco 
ornaments are worth notice. A marble bust of an Indian will repay 
careful study. 

There are also busts of Garibaldi — a very spirited sketch by his 
countryman, Martegana; and of Charles Sumner, by More. The 
portraits are of Henry Clay, by H. F. Darby; of Webster; and of 
John C. Calhoun. This room opens into the gallery for Senators' 
families, the first and second seats of which are reserved for the 
President and Vice-President, and their friends. 

The adjoining hall (from which opens a ladies' retiring-room, with 
a woman attendant) has two historical paintings. One of these, 
representing the encounter between the Monitor and Merrimac, 
painted by Hallsall, f and purchased in 1887, for $15,000, is the only 
exception to the rule that no reminder of the Civil War shall be 
placed in the Capitol, an exception due to the fact that this was in 
reality a drawn battle, where the courage of the contestants was con- 
spicuously equal, and where the naval methods of the world were 
revolutionized. Its historical interest is therefore world-wide. The 
other painting is the crowded canvas by Cornelia Adela Fassett 
(cost $7,500), representing the Electoral Tribunal of 1877, which sat 
in the Supreme Court Chamber, and the result of which was the 
choice of Rutherford B. Hayes for President over Samuel J. Tilden, 
who had contested Mr. Hayes' election. All of the faces in the room 

* Thomas Moran was born in England in 1837, but came to the United States 
when seven years old, and still lives in New York. He went to the Yellowstone 
Park in 1871, in company with Dr. F. V. Hayden, United States geologist, and 
later to Colorado and Utah, where he studied carefully, and has made many 
remarkable paintings of Western scenery among other productions. 

t William F. Hallsall was born in England in 1844, but settled early in Bos- 
ton, and after receiving a good education, went to sea for seven yeai's. He next 
studied frescoing, but gave it up in 1861 to serve two years in the Union navy. 
He then became a marine painter, studied diligently and produced many stir- 
ring naval pictures. He is still a resident of Boston. 



A TOUR OF THE CAPITOL. 45 

are portraits, many of persons still living or recently dead, whose 
countenances are familiar to the public. 

On each side of this painting are portraits of Lincoln and Garfield, 
in Italian mosaic, the gift of Signor Salviati of Venice, Italy. A 
portrait of Charles Sumner, by W. Ingalls, dated 1870, and of Gen. 
John A. Dix, by Imogene Robinson Morrell, dated 1883, also hang 
here. 

It was John A. Dix, afterward a Major-General, Senator, and 
Governor of New York, who, when Secretary of the Treasury in 1861, 
sent to one of his special agents in Louisiana the famous order con- 
taining the words: " If any one attempts to haul down the American 
\ flag shoot him on the spot," which so thrilled patriotic hearts. 

Descending, now, by the elevator or the eastern grand stairway, 
^ to the main floor, one walks to the main corridor, where, upon the 
! wall at the western end, hang beautiful portraits of Thomas Jeffer- 
son, a copy from an original by Thomas Sully, and of Patrick 
\ Henry, a copy by Matthews, from an original by Sully, an eminent 
painter of portraits and historical pictures, who died in Boston in 
I 1872. The portraits on the eastern wall have already been described 
] (P- 40). 

j The survey of the Senate wing has now been finished, and the 
I Supreme Court Chamber is next to be inspected. This is reached by 
j the main passage-w^ay leading from the Senate to the rotunda. 
/ Here, as soon as the older part of the building is entered, one comes 
I to the door of the Supreme Court, guarded by an attendant who will 
* admit visitors upon all proper occasions. 

Beginning with the resort of the populace in the rotunda, the 
■ visitor has now inspected in succession the halls of the lower and 
I upper house of Congress, and now concludes with the tribunal which 
I passes upon the validity of the laws they pass. To sit at the rear of 
; this old hall when the court is in session, as happens five days in 
I the week, during the greater part of the year, is an impressive ex- 
j perience. Any one may enter. 

I The Supreme Court of the United States now occupies the 
'chamber in the old Capitol designed for the Senate, and occupied 
by that body from 1800 until the completion of the new wing in 1859. 
Previously it sat in the hall, prepared for it, beneath this one (p. 38). 
This chamber was designed by Latrobe, and its general resem- 
blance to the old Hall of Representatives (Statuary Hall) will be 
noted; but it is smaller, measuring 75 by 45 feet wide and 45 feet 
high to the zenith of the low half -dome. Beneath the wide arch of 
5 



46 HANDY GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

the rear wall is a row of columns of variegated gray Potomac marble, 
with white Ionic capitals, in the center of which was placed the chair 
of the President of the Senate, draped, as now, by crimson curtains 
and surmounted by a hovering eagle. On the dais below him were 
the desks of the clerks, where now stands the long "bench" of the 
most august court in 'the land. At the right of the "bench" is the 
clerk of the court, at the left the Marshal; and the tables of the 
Attorney-General, official reporters, stenographers, and counsel 
legally admitted to practice here, occupy the semicircular carpeted 
"bar" formerly covered by the desks of vSenators. In the rear are 
public seats; but the light iron galleries formerly built overhead have 
been removed, and the walls, with their marble pilasters and busts of 
past Chief Justices, are now wholly visible. The list of busts in 
order is as follows: At the right of the clock (as you face it) (i) John 
Jay (1789 to 1795). (2) Oliver Ellsworth (1796 to 1799). (3) Roger B. 
Taney (1835 to 1864). (4) Morrison R. Waite (1874 to 1888). On the 
left of the clock: (i) John Rutledge (an Associate Justice nominated 
in 1795, but never confirmed). (2) John Marshall (iSoi to 1835). 
(3) Salmon P. Chase (1865 to 1873). The Justices, who, upon court 
days, enter in procession precisely at noon, wearing the voluminous 
black silk gowns which alone remain in the United States of the tra- 
ditional costume of the English judiciary, sit in a prescribed order of 
seniority. In the center is the Chief Justice; upon his right hand is 
the Associate Justice longest in service, and beyond him the second, 
third, and fourth; and then, upon the left of the Chief Justice, the 
fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth, or youngest in rank of appointment. 
The court is at present composed as follows, in order of seniority: 
The Chief Justice, Melville W. Fuller, appointed in 188S; Associate 
Justices, Stephen J. Field, 1863; John M. Harlan, 1877; Horace Gray, 
1881; David J. Brewer, 1889; Henry B. Brown, 1891; George Shiras, 
Jr., 1892; Edward D. White, 1894; and Rufus Peckham, 1895. 

The Robing Room, where the Justices meet informally and don 
"leir robes, is a handsome parlor, with much antique furniture, west 
of the corridor, and is adorned with some notable portraits of the 
Chief Justices of the past. 

The portrait of John Jay, by Gilbert Stuart, represents him 
arrayed in a black satin robe with broad scarlet facings. It was a gift 
to the court by his grandson, John Jay, late Minister to Austria. 
That of Taney, by Healy,* was presented by the Washington Bar 

* See biographical foot-note, p. 71. 



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A TOUR OF THE CAPITOL. 47 

Association. The portrait of Chief Justice Marshall is by Rembrandt 
Peale, and was presented to Chief Justice Chase by the bar of New 
York, and at his death was bequeathed by him to the Supreme Court. 
Neighboring rooms are devoted to court officers and clerks. The 
entrance to the Senate Library, on the floor above, is nearly opposite 
to the Supreme Court. 

A short corridor leads southward from the Supreme Court to the 
rotunda, and completes the tour of the Capitol. 

The Western Front of the Capitol is directly reached by leaving 
the rotunda through the western door and passing downstairs 
beneath the library, when 3^ou will emerge upon the terrace. 

Looking back you perceive the pillared and harmonious addition 
made to the original design of the building for the accommodation of 
the Library of Congress. It w^as first erected and occupied in 1824, 
after designs by Latrobe. In 1851 it was burned out, over 30,000 
.books and some valuable paintings being lost. Its restoration was 
immediately begun by Thomas U. Walter, who added the two side 
halls, familiar to modern visitors, expending $300,000 in the recon- 
struction. (See also p. 49.) 

The Terrace is a broad esplanade, separated from the basement 
of the building by a kind of moat, M^hich permits light and air to 
enter the lowest story, which adds largely to the solidity and architec- 
tural grandeur of the Capitol when viewed from below. Underneath 
this terrace are a series of casemate-like apartments, which were put 
to a novel use during the early days of the Civil War, when this part 
of the building had just been put into form, for the completion of the 
surface and balustrade of this beautiful terrace is of much more 
recent date. 

The Capitol in war time w^as a citadel. Its halls and committee 
rooms were used as barracks for the soldiers, who barricaded the 
outer doors with barrels of cement between the pillars; its basement 
galleries were converted into storerooms for army provisions; and 
the vaults under this terrace were converted into bakeries, where 
16,000 loaves of bread were baked every day for many months. In 
Harper's excellent "Cyclopaedia of L^nited States History," p. 947, 
may be seen a picture of this service, with the smoke pouring out of 
improvised chimneys along the outer edge. The "bakeries" are 
now clerks' offices and congressional committee rooms. 

Brpad flights of stairs, parting right and left about a fountain, 
lead down to a lower terrace, in the center of which is the bronze 
sitting figure of Chief Justice John Marshall — one of the most 
satisfactory statues in the city. 



48 HANDY GUI D^ TO WASHINGTON. 

The artist is the renowned Ameriean sculptor, Wm. W. Story, 
who died in Rome in 1895. This statue, which was executed in 
Italy, was presented to the United States by members of the bar, 
while Congress supplied the pedestal. It was erected in 1884, and 
the total cost w^as $40,000. The Chief Justice, whose portrait is said 
to be an excellent one, is represented as seated in his accustomed 
court-room chair and wearing his official robe, while his open hand 
appears to be a gesture enforcing some evident truth or benign 
decision. Each side of the marble pedestal bears a group in low 
relief — one, "Minerva Dictating the Constitution to Young America," 
and the other, "Victory Leading Young America to Swear Fidelity on 
the Altar of the Union." 

From this statue broad walks descend to Pennsylvania Avenue 
and the Peace Monument (p. 62), on the right, and to Maryland 
Avenue and the Garfield Monument (p. 63), on the left. But the 
survey of Capitol Hill is not yet completed. 



III. 

THE NEW BUILDING FOR THE 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 



The Library of Congress, which originated with the purchase in 
London in 1S02 of some 3,000 books of reference, was used as kin- 
dling material by the vandals who gleefully burned the Capitol and 
its records in 18 14. A new foundation was laid by the purchase of 
Thomas Jefferson's private library, and in 1851 the collection had 
increased to 60,000 volumes, w^hen half of it, or more, was again 
swept awa}?- by fire. After this damage was repaired by the recon- 
struction of the library front of the Capitol (p. 19), the growth was 
rapid. 

The arrangement by which the library received and continues to 
receive all the publications acquired by the Smithsonian system of 
international exchanges (p. 102), the Peter Force- and Doctor Tonerf 
historical collections of rare books, pamphlets, engravings, etc., and 
the steady accumulations under the action of the copyright law, have 
been the principal nuclei. Congress was very liberal to the librar)^ 
in its earlier days, and now grants about $55,000 a year for its 
support. 

From 1829 to 1S61 the Librarian was John S. Meehan, of New 

* Peter Force was born in 1790, became a prominent printer in New York, 
and settled in Washington in 18 12, where he died in 1868, after a useful life as 
printer, editor, and publicist. He collected an immense ainount of material for 
a documentary history of the American colonies and Revolution, of which nine 
volumes were published. His collection of documents, manuscripts, pamphlets, 
pictures, etc., was bought by the Government for !| 100,000. 

+ Dr. J. M. Toner, now well advanced in life, has spent many years in histori- 
cal research and the gathering of a great store of books, engravings, and other 
materials for the future historian, in addition to those heretofore deposited in 
the library. He has also endowed a course of scientific lectures, given annually 
before the most intellecttial audiences, and is, indeed, one of the oracles o'f 
Washington. 

(49) 



50 HANDY GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

York, and from 1861 to 1S64, John G. Stephenson, of Indiana. In 
1864, President Lincoln appointed as Librarian Ainsworth R. Spoff- 
ord of Ohio, and he has continued in the position to the present time. 
This collection is very rich in history, political science, jurispru- 
dence, and books, pamphlets, and periodicals of American publica- 
tion, or relating in any way to America. At the same time the 
library is a universal one in its range, no department of literature 
or science being unrepresented. The public are privileged to use 
the books within the library rooms, while members of Congress and 
about thirty officials of the Government only may take them away. 
The library is open every day (Sundays excepted), during the session 
of Congress, from 9.00 a. m. to the hour of adjournment. In the 
recess of Congress it is open between 9.00 a. m. and 4.00 p. m. 

As long ago as 1872 efforts were made to provide the Library with 
a separate building ; but its friends have only now seen their laud- 
able purpose accomplished. The fact that the Librarian has charge 
(since 1870) of the copyright business of the Government, and that 
this library is given and compelled to receive two copies of every 
book, picture, or other article copyrighted, makes its growth as rapid 
and steady as the progress of the American press, and enforces the 
need for ample space. Innumerable difficulties and chimerical 
schemes were overcome before Congress at last purchased — by con- 
demnation, for it was covered with dwelling-houses — the present site 
(ten acres, east of the Capitol grounds) for a new Library of Con- 
gress, paying $585,000 for the property. Work was begun in 1SS6, 
but not much was accomplished until 1888-9, when the work was 
placed in the hands of Gen. T. L. Casey, Chief of Engineers, U. S. 
A., under whose charge, and the superintendence of Bernard R. 
Green, C. E., the plans have been modified and perfected, and the 
work has gone on uninterruptedly ever since. 

The style is Italian renaissance, modified ; and the result is one 
of the noblest edifices externally, and the most artistically beautiful 
one inside, of all the grand buildings at the capital. Its ground plan 
is an oblong square, inclosing four courts and a rotunda. Its outside 
dimensions are 470 by 340 feet, and it covers three and three-quarters 
acres of ground. The maferz'al is Concord (N. H.) granite, exteriorly, 
and enameled brick within the courts. The massiveness is broken 
by slight projections at the corners, and relieved by numerous 
windows, pillars, and highly ornate carvings upon the cornices, 
capitals, window-casings, etc. One marked and unique feature is, 
that upon the keystone of each of the thirty-three arched windows is 
carved a human head typical of some distinct race of man. The cen- 
tral pavilio7i on the west, or main front (toward the Capitol), is fur- 
ther enriched just below the roof by four colossal figures, each repre- 



THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 51 

senting Atlas, and is surrounded by a pediment with two sculptured 
American eagles as the center of an emblematic group in granite. 
Another feature of this front is a series of busts of great literati — 
Demosthenes, Dante, Scott (by Adamsi; Irving, Hawthorne, Emer- 
son (by Hartley); Franklin, Macaulay, and Goethe (by Ruchstuhl). The 
massive front staircase, with its fine granite balustrade, which forms 
the approach to the building, has underneath it a heavily-arched 
porte-cochere for carriage entrance. Over the arches of the three 
entrance doors are carved three spandrels, in relief, each represent- 
ing two female figures, by Bela Pratt, emblematic of Art, Science, 
and Literature. 77ie T-oof is of copper, and the dome is heavily 
gilded (costing $3,800) and terminates, 195 feet above the ground, 
in a gilded torch of vScience, ever burning — to adopt the phrase of 
Librarian A. R. Spofford, from whose pamphlet many of these details 
are drawn. 

In the cojistriictioii of this library the facts — almost unique in 
the history of Government architecture at the Capitol — should be 
noted, that the structure was completed within the time specified (six 
years), and within the limit of cost allowed ($6,250,000). 

There were required 400,000 cubic feet of granite, 550,000 enam- 
eled brick, 24,000,000 red brick, 3,000 tons of iron and steel, and 
70,000 barrels of cement. The land covered is three and three-quar- 
ters acres, and the floor space amounts to eight acres. There are 
three floors, comprising a basement, level with the ground, the main 
or library floor, and a second story above. The 1,800 windows render 
this the best lighted library in the world. The pumps, coal vaults, 
and steam boilers are in a separate building in the rear and under 
ground, thus avoiding many nuisances of noise, dust, heat, etc. 

The Basement contains rooms for a book -bindery, packing and 
storing books, etc. , but it is finely finished. Four wide corridors ex- 
tend completely around the building, having marble wainscoted walls. 

The western or main entrance hall is of Italian white marble, and 
the western corridors of Vermont mottled blue marble, followed on 
the north wing by a corridor of Tennessee marble, dark red in color. 
On the east front the corridor is lined with Georgia marble, richly 
veined in black and white; while the south corridor is a vista of red 
and white Cham plain marble from S wanton, Vt. 

The Main or Library Floor is reached by the great outer stair- 
way and portico which admits one through the MacMonnies and 
Warner bronze doors to the Entrance Hall or foyer, which is adorned 
with veined, polished, white Italian marble, and broken by vast 
square piers, beyond which rise two grand staircases, one on each 
side, to the level of the second floor. These have solid balustrades, 
and their newels are enriched by festoons of leaves and flowers, and 
surmounted by two bronze lamp-bearers (by Philip INIartiny) for dec- 



52 HANDY GUIDE TO WASHLYGTON. 

trie lights. The upper staircases are ornamented with twenty-six 
miniature marble figures by Martiny, carved in relief, representing in 
emblematic sculpture the various arts, sciences, and races. This en- 
trance hall rises unbroken to the roof, seventy -two feet above, where 
a skylight pours a flood of sunshine down upon the shimmering sur- 
faces, giving an ethereal lightness and beauty to the really massive 
architecture that is peculiarly effective and charming. Ascending the 
staircases you find yourself in a broad corridor surrounding the hall. 
This is all in white marble of the same Corinthian style. Lofty coupled 
cohimns, with elaborate acanthus capitals, support joint entablatures, 
whence spring the groined arches of the ceiling. North and south 
doorways admit to magnificent library halls ; the west windows open 
upon a balcony overlooking the Capitol grounds and a large part of 
the city, and on the east a beautiful stairway leads to the uppermost 
galleries of the rotunda. A long time may be spent in admiring 
study of this superb hall, whose details are elaborate in every par- 
ticular, varying constantly in small points of ornamentation, yet ever 
consonant with the classic model, and keeping an arti'stic tmiformity 
without monotony. The ornamentation of the ceilings, composed of 
stucco in high relief set off with gold on the eminences and bright 
color in the recesses, is also admirable, and becomes very striking 
when applied to the vaulted canopies of the great side halls. 

An A7'-t Gallery will be made of one of these great rooms on the 
second floor, measuring 217 by 35 feet, with a glass roof, for the exhi- 
bition of works of graphic art, of which many hundreds of thousands 
have been acquired by the operation of the copyright law, many of 
them the finest engravings. This will be constantly open to the 
public, and of the highest benefit to students. Another equally large 
room will be devoted to the display of maps, of which the library 
already possesses over 15,000. 

The Senate Readmg Room is ornamented by a striking marble 
relief, by Herbert Adams, over the mantel-piece. The relief in wood 
over the door is by the same artist. 

A public restaurant occupies rooms in the attic. This and all 
the upper parts of the building are reached by elevators. 

The Rotunda is, however, the crowning glory of this magnificent 
palace of learning. It may be reached directly from the eastern 
front; but the main entrance is through a noble Ionic doorway and 
adit, on the main floor, between the grand staircases of the entrance 
balls in the western front. 



THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 53 

This rotunda, the public reading room, is an octagonal hall ico 
feet in diameter, beneath the great dome, whose "eye" is 125 feet 
above the floor. This hall is gorgeous in detail, but the whole effect 
is one of sumptuous furnishing, guided by a cultivated and liberal 
taste worthy of such a temple of education and repository of garnered 
thought as this edifice is designed to be. The dome is carried upon 
eight massive piers, connected by noble arches, each arch filled above 
the capitals of its supporting pillars with semicircular windows of clear 
glass thirty-two feet wide. The broad intrados of each arch is filled 
with sunken panels of color and gilded rosettes, in conformity with 
' the general design of ceiling treatment. A heavy entablature of 
classic ornament in high relief, with all the prominences gilded, runs 
all around the rotunda, into every alcove, and out around all the eight 
piers. Each of the eight bays beneath this entablature is filled 
with a two-storied loggia of yellow variegated Sienna marble, the 
lower story consisting of three arches divided by square engaged pil- 
( lars with Corinthian ca.pitals, the second story of seven lesser arches 
I supported by small pillars of Ionic style, extremely graceful, and 
I above all is carried an open gallery protected by a balustrade. These 
I loggias and the upper galleries, nearly forty feet from the floor, run 
all around the rotunda ; and it is from these, reached from the grand 
' staircase and overlooking the whole room, that the sight-seeing 
I public gaze upon the apartment and its busy worlcers, who are 
I not permitted to be disturbed by the intrusion of casual visitors. 
' These loggias form the eight sides of the hall, the two entrances to 
' which are further distinguished by fagades of Sienna marble, which are 
perfect examples of the Corinthian style. Between each two adjacent 
I loggias, filling the corners of the octagon and forming the inner face 
I of the eight great projecting piers that support the arches and sus- 
I tain the dome, are splendid columns and faces of two shades of dark 
I Numidian marble, crowned by golden Corinthian capitals and stand- 
j ing upon pedestals of the chocolate-tinted marble of East Tennessee. 
J On the summit of each of these columns stands a colossal emblematic 
statue, the eight representing . Art, by Augustus St. Gaudens; His- 
tory, by Daniel C. French; Philosophy, by B. L. Pratt; Poetry, by J. 
Q. A. Ward; Science, by John Donoghue; Law, by Paul W. Bartlett; 
Commerce, by John Flanagan, and Religion, by Theodore Bauer. 

Two representative men for each subject are cast in bronze stat- 
ues of heroic size, arranged in groups around the galleries. Philos- 
ophy is repre'feented by Plato and Lord Bacon; History, by Herodotus 



54 HANDY GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

and Gibbon; Poetry, by Homer and Shakespeare; Art (embracing 
painting, sculpture, and music), by Michael Angelo and Beethoven; 
Science, by Newton and Henry; Law, by Solon and Kent; Commerce, 
by Columbus and Fulton, and' Religion, by Moses and St. Paul. 

The spandrels or triangular wall spaces between the arches are 
adorned by emblematic figures in relief and brought out by color, 
and the whole is capped by an encircling entablature of classic 
beauty, whence springs the superb canopy of the arch, filled with 
rich ornamentation to its crown, beneath Avhich, in the collar of the 
dome, is an exceedingly interesting and beautiful series of figures in 
fresco, by E. H. Blashfield, symbolizing the relations of the nations 
to human progress. 

" Thus," remarks Mr. R. Cortissoz, " Egypt is the representative 
of written records, Judea typifies religion, Greece is the standard- 
bearer of philosophy, Rome bears the same relation toward adminis- 
tration, Islam stands for physics, the Middle Ages are figured as the 
fountain-head of modern languages, Italy is represented as the 
source of the fine arts, Germany as sponsor for the art of printing, 
Spain as the first great power in discovery, England as a mighty 
bulwark of literature, the France of the eighteenth century as em- 
blematic of emancipation, and America as the nation of scientific 
genius. Each figure holds the insignia of its place." 

Nothing in the United States, and little in the world, surpasses the 
artistic splendor of this grand rotunda — all mellow marble, sparkle 
of gold, and play of significant color! The architect and designer of 
most of the interior finish was Edward P. Casey of New York City. 

The practical work of the library concentrates in the rotunda, 
where (in the center) stands the circular desk of the superintendent 
and his assistants, who can speedily communicate with all parts of 
the building by a S3'stem of telephones, and by pneumatic tubes, 
which carry messages and orders for books to any required room or 
book-stack. The floor is filled with small desks, arranged in concen- 
tric circles and separated by light screens or curtains, and the intru- 
sion of mere sight-seers is forbidden. Unlimited light and air are 
assured, and quiet is enforced; while celerity in obtaining and dis- 
tributing books is secured by various devices that librarians else- 
where will admire and copy. As there is a constant call for books of 
reference from the Capitol, where the legislators often want a volume 
for instant use, an underi^round tunnel , four feet wide and six feet 
high, has been made between the two buildings, containing an end- 
less cable carrier, upon which books maybe sent back and forth at 
great speed. 



THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 55 

T/ic Stack-7'ooms, or apartments where the books themselves 
are kept, open out on each side of the rotunda into the lofty wings 
that divide the interior courts, whose enameled walls reflect a flood 
of light into their numerous windows. These repositories contain 
the most improved arrangement. Cases of iron, rising sixty-five feet 
to the roof, are filled with adjustable shelves of coated steel as 
smooth as glass. The floors of these rooms are marble, and the 
decks, at intervals of every seven feet from top to bottom, by which 
the attendants reach the shelves, are simply slabs of white marble on 
steel bars. Cleanliness and ventilation are thus fully assured. Each 
of these stacks will hold 800,000 books; and the present capacity of all 
those erected is about 2,000,000 volumes, while additional space can 
be made for 2,500,000 more, or nearly 4,500,000 volumes in all— more 
than the probable accumulation of the next century and a half. The 
greatest existing library in the world, that of France, now contains 
about 2,500,000 volumes. The available space for all purposes here is 
largely in excess of that of the British Museum, and amounts to 
more than two-thirds that of the Capitol itself. 

The remaining floor-space of the first story is devoted to copy- 
( right record rooms, a librarian's office, lecture hall, private reading 
' rooms for Congress and special students, and the special libraries 
I of the Smithsonian Institution and the Doctor Toner collection. In 
I all these rooms highly decorative features attract the eye on every 
side. Among the sculptors whose designs are used are C. H. Nie- 
haus, G. E. Bissell, Augustus and Louis St. Gaudens, J. T. Boyle, 
j C. E. Dallin, F. W. MacMonnies, and Olin L. Warner; and among 
\ the mural painters are Kenyon Cox, Carl Gutherz, Edwin H. Blash- 
I field, John \V. Alexander, Elihu Vedder, Walter McEwen, Edward 
j Simmons, Geo. W. Maynard, H. O. Walker, Ch. S. Pearce, Gari 
j Melchers, Wm. L. Dodge, and Elmer Garnsey. " The result is, that 
I there are found, all over the building, works which arrest the eye 
I for their own sake, after they have proven their value as parts of ''a 
decorative whole." Mosaic work in panels or mantels is designed 
1 by A. H. Thayer and F. Dielman, and the two bronze doors and sev- 
I eral designs in marble are by Olin L. Warner. The sculptured 
j decorations were executed by sculptors selected by three members of 
1 the National Society of Sculptors, 



IV. 
ON CAPITOL HILL. 



The plateau east of the Capitol was considered by the founders of 
the city the most desirable region for residence, and truly it was in 
those days, as compared with the hills and swamps of the northwest- 
ern quarter or the lowlands along the river. The principal owner 
was Daniel Carroll, and when the alternate city lots were sold for the 
benefit of the public funds, higher prices were paid for them here 
than elsewhere. Carroll considered himself sure to be a millionaire, 
but died poor at last ; Robert Morris of Philadelphia, the financier 
of the Revolution, invested heavily here and lost accordingly; and 
the two lots which Washington himself bought cost him about |i,ooo. 

Daniel Carroll built for himself what was then considered a very 
fine mansion styled Dudduigtoji Manor ; and that it really was a 
spacious, comfortable, and elegant house can be seen by any one who 
will walk down New Jersey Avenue, three blocks southeast of the 
Capitol, and then a block east on E Street, which will bring him in 
sight of the old house upon its tree-shaded knoll, surrounded by a 
high wall, and desolate amid "modern improvements." Upon the 
personal history of the men who have dined beneath its roof, and 
the stories its walls might repeat. Miss Lockwood has expatiated 
pleasantly in her valuable book, " Historic Homes in Washington," 
to whoin every one must be indebted who discourses upon the social 
chronicles of the capital. 

A more famous building was the Old Capitol Prison, as it came to 
be called during the Civil War, whose walls still stand upon the block 
facing the Capitol grounds at the intersection of Maryland Avenue 
with First and A streets, N. E., enclosing the lead-colored block of 
handsome residences called Lanier Place. 

This was a spacious brick building hastily erected by the citizens 
of Washington after the destruction of the Capitol by the British in 
JS14, to accommodate Congress and hold the national capital here 

(56) 




STATUE OF ADMIRAL SAMUEL F, DUPONT IN DUPONT CIRCLE. 
(See page 124.) 



\ 



ON CAPITOL HILL. 57 

against the renewed assaults of those who wished to move the seat 
of Government elsewhere. While it was building, Congress held one 
session in Blodgett's "great hotel," which stood on the site of the 
present post office (p. 85), and then sat in this building until the 
restored Capitol was ready for them, in 1827. It was a big, plain, 
warehouse-like structure, which was turned into a boarding-house 
after Congress abandoned it, and there Senator John C. Calhoun 
died in 1850. When the Civil War broke out this building became a 
military prison for persons suspected or convicted of aiding and abet- 
ting the secession treason to which his influence had so powerfully 
contributed. Washington was full of Southern sympathizers and 
spies, and many are the traditions in the old families of days and 
weeks spent by overzealous members in " durance vile " within its 
' walls, guarded by the " law-and-order brigade" of the Provost-Mar- 
1 shal's office, which formed the police of the capital in those days. 
Here Wirz, the brutal keeper of Andersonville prison, was executed, 
as well as several other victims of the War. Several years ago it was 
remodeled into handsome residences, one of M^hich is the home of Mr, 
Justice Field. 
j The tall brick Malt by Building, directly north of the Capitol, 
I originally a hotel, is now occupied by congressional committees. 

The Coast and Geodetic Survey, a scientific branch of the Treas- 
ury Department to map the coast, chart the waters, and investigate 
(and publish movements of tides, currents, etc., for the benefit of 
I navigation, is domiciled in a brick building on New Jersey Avenue, 
I south of the Capitol, immediately in the rear of the great stone 
I house built long ago by Benjamin F. Butler as a residence, and which 
( is now principally occupied by the Marine Hospital Service. New 
\ Jersey Avenue leads in that direction to Garfield Park, which is too 
new to be of interest, and beyond that to the shore of the Anacostia, 
' near the Navy Yard.. Just west of it Delaware Avenue forms a 
j perfectly straight street to Washington Barracks. 

Capitol Hill, as the plateau of the Capitol is popularly called, can 

I yet show many fine, old-fashioned homes, though some formerly 

I notable have lately disappeared. In their place, however, have 

. grown up long blocks of substantial and ornate houses, making this 

j one of the handsomest parts of the city, which forms a district, and, 

to a great extent, a society, local and distinct from the official and 

' fashionable Northwest, upon which the old residents look down with 

ill-disguised superiority, a scorn which ancient Georgetown returns 

with aristocratic hauteur! 

Capitol Hill has its own shady avenues, quiet cross streets, and 
pretty parks. In Stanton Square (three and one-half acres), half a 
mile northeast out Maryland Avenue, is H, K. Brown's bronze 



58 HANDY GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

statue of AlaJ.-Gen. Nathaniel Greene, who distinguished himself at 
Eutaw Spring and elsewhere in the South during the Revolution, and 
to whom a statue was voted by the Continental Congress. This 
statue, which was cast in Philadelphia, erected here recently, and 
cost, with its pedestal of New England granite, $50,000, is one of the 
most life-like figures in Washington, the modeling of the horse being 
particularly admirable. The Peabody School confronts this neat 
square, which is reached by the Eckington line of street-cars. A 
farther walk of half a mile down Massachusetts Avenue takes one to 
Lincoln Square — a beautifully shaded tract of six and one-quarter 
acres, just a mile east of the Capitol. Here Tennessee and Kentucky 
avenues branch off northward and southward, the former leading to 
Graceland and Mount Olivet cemeteries, and the latter to the Con- 
gressional Cemetery, and to the bridge (over the Anacostia to Twin- 
ing) at the foot of Pennsylvania Avenue. 

hi Lijicohi Sgti are the most beautiful thing is the lofty, symmet- 
rical sycamore tree in the center; but the most noted object is the 
Statue Mo7iU7ne7it to the Emancipation of the Slaves. This is a 
bronze group, erected by contributions from the colored freedmen of 
the United States, many of w^hom were set free by the proclamation, 
which is represented in the hand of the great benefactor of American 
slaves, one of whom is kneeling, unshackled, at his feet. One of the 
inscribed tablets upon the pedestal informs us that the first contribu- 
tion was the first free earnings of Charlotte Scott, a freed woman of 
Virginia, at whose suggestion, on the day of Lincoln's death, this 
monument fund was begun. This statue, twelve feet high, was cast 
in Munich at an expense of $17,000, and was unveiled on April 14, 
1876, the eleventh anniversary of Lincoln's assassination, Frederick 
Douglass making the oration. 

East Capitol Street is a wide avenue running straight, one mile, 
from this park to the Capitol, between rows of elms and poplars, and 
continuing onward to the Eastern Branch through scanty and low- 
lying suburbs. On the same river bank, at the eastern terminus of 
Massachusetts Avenue, occupying a reservation called Hospital 
Square, are the District Almshouse, Workhouse (or Asylum for the 
Indigent), and the stone jail, costing $40,000, in which several mur- 
derers, including Garfield's assailant, Guiteau, have been confined and 
executed. Some distance away, on the Bladensburg Road, can be 
seen the buildings of the Boys' Reform School. All these institutions 
are well worth inspection by those especially interested. 

C/irist Church (Protestant Episcopal) on G Street, S. E., between 
Sixth and Seventh, is the oldest church in the cit5^ It • was 





I 



t 



ON CAPITOL HILL. 59 

erected in 1795, and was attended by Presidents Jefferson and 
Madison. Services are still held there. 

Christ Church Cemetery, more popularly known as the congres- 
sional burial ground, adjoins the grounds of the workhouse on the 
south, and occupies a spacious tract on the bank of the Anacostia. 
It contains the graves and cenotaphs, formerly erected by Congress, 
of many persons once prominent in official life. 

This cemetery was the principal, if not the only, place of inter- 
ment at the beginning of civilization here; and many officials who 
died at the capital were buried there, and the practice continues. 
Congress contributing toward the support of the cemetery in con- 
sideration of this fact. Among the notable men buried here are: 
Vice-President George Clinton of New York; Signer and Vice-Presi- 
dent Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts, whose name gave us the 
verb " to gerrymander"; William West, born in Bladensburg in 1772, 
a distinguished essayist and jurist, and finally Attorney-General under 
Monroe; Alexander Macomb, hero of Plattsburg, and General of the 
army preceding Scott, who has a fine military monument ; his prede- 
cessor. Gen. Jacob Brown, resting under a broken column ; Tobias 
Lear, Washington's private secretary; A. D. Bache, the organizer of 
the coast survey, and several distinguished officers of the old army 
and navy. A public vault, erected by Congress, stands near the 
center of the grounds. The nearest street-cars are at Lincoln 
Square, about ten minutes' walk ; or at the Navy Yard, fifteen to 
twenty minutes' walk along K Street, S. E., and Georgia Avenue. 

All this old-settled and no longer fashionable region, near the 
Anacostia, is spoken of rather contemptuously as "the navy yard," 
and it supplies a fair share of work for the police courts ; but it is 
greatly beloved of soldiers and sailors on leave. 

The Navy Yard is one of the places which visitors to Washington 
are usually most anxious to see, but it usually offers little to reward 
their curiosity outside of the gun shop. The navy yards at Brooklyn, 
Portsmouth, and Norfolk are all far more interesting. It stands on 
the banks of the broad tidal estuary of the Anacostia River, at the 
foot of Eighth Street, S. E., and is the terminus of the cable-cars 
from Georgetown along Pennsylvania Avenue. The Anacostia line 
of street-cars along M Street, S. E., also passes the gate. 

This navy yard was established (1804) as soon as the Government 
came here, and was an object of destruction by the British, who 
claim, however, that it was set on fire by the Americans; as this was 
the one part of the city which an enemy might be excused for destroy- 
ing, such a plea might have been made with better grace for their 
other acts of uncalled-for destructiveness; an interesting incident of 
this time belongs to the story of Greenleaf's Point (p. 141). It was 
restored, and "for more than half a century many of the largest and 



60 HANDY GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

finest ships of war possessed by the United States were constructed 
in this yard." Two spacious ship houses remain, but the yard is 
now almost entirely given up to the manufacture of naval guns and 
ammunition and the storage of equipments. It often happens that 
not a ship of any sort is at the wharves (though a receiving ship is 
usually moored there), and the sentry at the gate is almost the only 
sign of military occupation about the place. The residences of the 
officers on duty are near the gate; the office of the yard at the foot 
of the main walk near the wharf, and there application should be 
made for permission to go anywhere not open to the public. A large 
number of guns, showing types used in the past, are lying near the 
office, and a series of very interesting cannon captured from the Tri- 
politan, British, Mexican, or Confederate enemies whom the navy 
has had to fight, are mounted before the office. In a small building 
at the right of the gate a museum is open, which contains naval 
relics and curiosities of ordnance, including a gun used by Cortez in 
the conquest of Mexico, the English-made Armstrong shell thrown 
from a gun on the Alabama and stuck in the stern-post of the Kear- 
sarge, which was cast in Spain in 1490. The collection is well worth 
examination. The great entrance was designed by Benj. H. Latrobe. 
The Gu7i Shop. — The first great building on the right, at the foot 
of the stone stairs, is the most interesting place in the yard. It is 
filled with the most powerful and approved machinery for turning, 
boring, rifling, jacketing, and otherwise finishing ready for work the 
immense rifles required for modern battle-ships, as well as the 
smaller rapid-fire guns forming the supplementary batteries of the 
cruisers and other vessels of war. Observing carefully the posted 
regulations, the visitor may walk where he pleases through these 
magnificent factories and watch the extremely interesting process, 
and should it happen that any vessels of war are in the harbor, per- 
mission to go on board of them can be obtained at all suitable hours . 

The Mar me Barracks, three squares above the Navy Yard, on 
Eighth Street, S. E., occupy a square surrounded by brick buildings 
painted yellow, according to the uniform custom of the old army, 
and are the home station and headquarters of the Marine Corps; 
but, except that here is the residence of the famous Marine Band, 
they contain nothing of interest to the visitor, unless he likes to 
watch guardmounting every morning at 9.00, or the formal inspec- 
tion on Mondays at 10.00 a. m. The Marine Band is the only military 
band always stationed in Washington, and available for all military 
ceremonials. These advantages have given it great excellence; and 
its music at parades, President's receptions, inaugural balls, etc., is 
highly appreciated. This band gives out-door concerts in summer. 

The Naval Hospital, for sick and wounded officers and men of 
the Navy and Marine Corps, is at Pennsylvania Avenue and Ninth 
Street, S. E.; and at Second and D streets, S. E., is Providence Hos- 



ON CAPITOL HILL. 61 

pital, founded in 1862, whose rear windows overlook the fine old 
Duddington Manor (p. 56). 

Anacostia is a name applied in an indefinite way to the region 
opposite the Navy Yard, and is reached by a bridge at the foot of 
Eleventh Street, crossed by the street-cars of the Anacostia & Poto- 
mac line. The village at the farther end of the bridge, now called 
Anacostia, was formerly Uniontown, and from it branch roads lead 
up on the Maryland Heights in various directions, where suburban 
villas and park- villages are rapidly extending. Twining, at the 
eastern end of the Pennsylvania Avenue bridge; Lincoln Heights, in 
the extreme eastern corner of the district; Garfield and Good Hope, 
on the fine Marlboro Turnpike, which is a favorite run for cyclers 
and where there is a summer hotel — Overlook Inn ; and Congress 
Heights, farther south, are the principal of these suburban centers. 
All of these high ridges were crowned and connected by fortifica- 
tions, some of which remain in fairly good condition, especially Fort 
Stanton, just south of Garfield, A wide and interesting view of the 
city and the Potomac Valley is obtained from its ramparts, and also 
of the great Federal Insane Asylum (p, 141), 



/ 



V. 

FROM THE CAPITOL TO THE 
WHITE HOUSE. 



A Walk up Pennsylvania Avenue. 

Pennsylvania Avenue is the back-bone of Washington — the 
head of it resting upon the storied heights of Georgetown, and the 
tail lost in the wilderness of shanties east of the Navy Yard. It is 
four miles and a half long, but is broken by the Capitol grounds 
and by the Treasury and White House grounds. Between these two 
breaks it extends as a straight boulevard, one and a half miles in 
length and i6o feet wide, paved with asphalt and expanding at short 
intervals into spaces or parks caused by the angular intersection of 
other streets. It will, by-and-by, be among the grandest streets in 
the United States. It is only recently, how^ever, that this grandeur 
has begun to be realized. For years it was a mere track through a 
wet forest; and when at last the town had progressed to the extent 
of having one sidewalk, made of the sharp chips from the stone 
work of the Capitol, laid down the whole length of " the avenue," the 
people were puffed up with pride. No pavement was attempted 
until 1830, and then it was cheap and bad. 

A walk up "The Avenue" begins at the western gates of the 
Capitol, where First Street, N. W., curves across its rounded front. 
Pennsylvania Avenue strikes northwest; a few paces at the left, 
Maryland Avenue diverges southwest, straight down to Long 
Bridge. The circles at the beginning of these streets are filled with 
two conspicuous monuments — the Naval or Peace Memorial at Penn- 
sylvania, and the Garfield at Maryland, Avenue, 

The Naval Motiument was erected in 1878 from contributions by 
officers and men of that service " in memory of the officers, seamen, 
and marines of the United States Navy who fell in defense of the 

(62) 



STATUE OF PRESIDENT JAMES A. GARFIELD. 
Southwestern Entrance to Capitol Grounds. 



! 



FROM THE CAPITOL TO THE WHITE HOUSE. 63 

Union and liberty of their country, 1 861-1865." It was designed 
from a sketch by Admiral David D. Porter, elaborated by Franklin 
Simmons, at Rome, and is of pure Carrara marble, resting upon an 
elaborate granite foundation designed by Edward Clark, the present 
architect of the Capitol. America is sorrowfully narrating the loss 
of her defenders, while History records on her tablet: " They died 
that their country might live." Below these figures on the western 
plinth of the monument is a figure of Victory, with an infant Nep- 
ttme and Mars, holding aloft a laurel wreath, and on the reverse 
is a figure of Peace offering the olive branch. The cost was $41,000, 
half of which was given by Congress for the pedestal and its two 
statues. 

The Garfield Statue is a more recent acquisition, having been 
erected by his comrades of the Army of the Cumberland, and 
unveiled in 1887, to commemorate the virtues and popularity of 
President James A. Garfield, whose assassination, six years before, 
(p. 7), had horrified the whole country. The statesman stands upon 
a massive pedestal, in the attitude of an orator; nearer the base of 
the statue three figures represent three phases of his career — 
student, soldier, and publicist. This statue was designed by J. Q. A, 
Ward, and erected at an expense of $65,000, half of which was 
appropriated by Congress to pay for the pedestal and its three 
bronze figures. In the triangle between these two avenues lies the 
ten-acre tract of the Botanical Garden, where Congressmen get 
their button-hole bouquets, and their wives cuttings and seeds for 
pretty house-plants. It long ago outlived its scientific usefulness, 
and has never attained excellence as a public pleasure-garden or 
park, while its cost has been extravagant. In its central greenhouse 
may be seen certain tropical plants brought home by the Wilkes and 
Perry exploring expeditions; and the conspicuous illuminated foun- 
tain in the center of the grounds is the one by Bartholdi, so greatly 
admired at the Centennial Exposition, 1876. It cost $6,000. In 
1836, Congress bought a fountain for this garden from Hiram 
Powers. 

Through this garden, and along the northern margin of The Mall 
beyond it, used to run the old Tiber Canal, and there was much low, 
malaria-producing ground in this region. To get money to fill this 
up, Congress sold as building lots the land opposite the Botanical 
Garden, along the northern side of Pennsylvania Avenue, which 
had been reserved as a park, extending as far as Four-and-a-half 
Street. The small buildings and petty enterprises there are relics of 



64 HANDY GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

what followed. Four-and-a-half Street, taking the place of Fourth 
and Fifth, which are absent south of Judiciary Square, is a broad 
thoroughfare coming straight down from the city hall (p. 17), in 
front of which is the Lincoln Column. This street, which runs 
straight to the gate of the military post at Greenleaf's Point (p, 141), 
has two or three churches, still prominent, and many fine old houses 
reminders of the days, thirty-five years back, when it was the center 
of the fashionable residence-quapter. It was along this part of the 
Avenue that the famous gambling-houses of Washington kept open 
house many years ago. 

The buildings improve as we proceed, and in the next block, on 
the right, is the National Hotel, with the St. James opposite — both 
old houses. The record of the National goes back to the early 
decades of the century, and in the time of Clay and Webster it was 
filled with the leading spirits in the Government, who caused many 
memorable things to happen beneath its roof. Its first conductor 
was Mr. Gadsby, who came from Alexandria, and the hotel has 
always been conducted after Southern models and still commands 
more custom from that region than elsewhere. Passing the Balti- 
more & Potomac (Pennsylvania Rd.) Station on the left (p. 7), 
we cross Sixth Street, and find ourselves in front of the Metropolitan 
Hotel — an immense, old-fashioned hostelry standing upon ground 
devoted to hotel uses since the opening of the century. Here was 
the Great, or Brown's, Hotel kept by the Browns, father and son, 
which later took the title of Indian Queen, and was the scene of the 
greatest festivities of the first third of the city's career. It has been 
a capacious hotel under its present name for many years, and is 
largely inhabited by Congressmen, 

This brings us to Seventh Street, the chief north-and-south artery 
of trafiic; and this is one of the busiest corners in the city, several 
railways crossing here and exchanging passengers, who get their 
transfer tickets at a booth under an awning, on the southwest 
corner. Out of the open plaza, northwest, where open-air preachers 
hold forth every Sunday, and nostrum- vendors on week-days, 
Louisiana Avenue extends in a broad boulevard to Judiciary Square. 
Its diagonal crossing of Pennsylvania Avenue leaves a triangle, upon 
which stands the new equestrian statue of Maj.-Gen. Winfield S. 
Hancock. 

On the south side of the avenue here, stretching from Seventh to 
Ninth Street, is Cettter Market, one of the most spacious, conven- 
ient, well-furnished, and withal picturesque establishments of its 
kind in th« country. 



FROM THE CAPITOL TO THE WHITE HOUSE, 65 

No one should consider a tour of Washington made until they 
have spent an early morning hour in this market, and in the open-air 
country market behind it, along the railings of the Smithsonian 
grounds, where the gaunt farmers of the Virginia and Maryland 
hills stand beside their ramshackle wagons, hovering over little fires 
to keep warm, and quaint old darkies offer for sale old-fashioned 
flowers and "yarbs,"live chickens, and fresh-laid eggs, bunches of 
salad or fruit from their tiny^ suburban fields, smoking cob pipes and 
crooning wordless melodies just as they used to be in " befo' de wa' " 
days. There are four or five great markets in Washington, the prop- 
erty of corporations, and this city of boarding-houses thus enjoys 
(as from its situation it ought to do) unusual facilities for obtaining 
fresh country produce and the delicacies of sea and river. This 
building is 415 feet long, and cost $350,000, and the others are not 
much smaller; but more outside space is devoted to market busi- 
ness here than elsewhere. Between the market and Pennsylvania 
Avenue is a park space, through which runs the depression marking 
the old Tiber Canal, now a grassy trench crossed by a picturesque 
bridge. Here stands the Statue of Maj .-Gen. John A. Rawlins, 
Grant's Chief of Staff, and later his Secretary of War, who also has a 
small park named after him in the rear of the War Office, where this 
monument was first erected. This statue, which is of bronze, after 
designs by J. Bailey, cast by Wood & Co., in Philadelphia, from 
rebel cannon captured by Granfs armies, was erected in 1874, and 
paid for ($12,000) by friends of the General, who died here in 1869. 

Good modern buildings and fine stores line the avenue from here 
(on to Fifteenth Street, especially on the northern side. At Ninth 
Street another north-and-south artery of street-car traffic is crossed, 
'iand the Academy of Music appears at the right. On the corner is 
j Perry's dry-goods store, one of the most completely "stocked" in 
(the city. The sharp angle southw'ard, between Louisiana Avenue 
and C Street, was for many years occupied by the second Ford's 
'Theater, which later became a vaudeville play-house. 

Tenth Street, the next, is historic. At the left, past the market, 
is the principal entrance to the Smithsonian grounds; and on the cor- 
ner is the office of a lively morning newspaper. The Times. The 
jopen space here is decorated with Plassma7i s Statice of Benjaini7i 
\Franklin, looking shrewdly down upon the trafficking throng, as that 
I eminent man of affairs was wont to do. It is marble, of heroic size, 
represents Franklin in his court dress as Minister to the Court of 
{France, and was presented to the city in 1889, by Stillson Hutchins. 
Ian editor and writer of wide reputation. The assassination of 
\President Lincoln occurred in the old Ford's Theater on this Tenth 
Street, in the second block north of Pennsylvania Avenue, and the 
I buildings made sacred by the event are still standing. 



66 HANDY GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

Ford's Theater, which, during the Civil War, was the leading 
theater in the city, has long been occupied by the Government as 
offices. Here, on the night of April 14, 1865, President Lincoln, with 
members of his family and staff, went, by special invitation, to wit- 
ness a play in which the actor J, Wilkes Booth had a principal part. 
During an intermission Booth entered the box in which the President 
sat, shot him in the back of the head with a revolver, and then leaped 
to the stage. At the same time other assassins made attempts upon 
the life of the cabinet officers — that upon Secretary Wm. H. Seward 
nearly proving successful. Booth leaped to the stage, and, with the 
other assassins, made his escape, but all were soon recaptured, 
brought to Washington (except Booth, who was killed in Maryland) 
and incarcerated in the old penitentiary at the Arsenal (p, 141), where 
four of the leaders of the conspiracy were tried and hung. Ford's 
Theater was at once closed by order of the Government, which pur- 
chased the building in 1866. It was remodeled and appropriated to 
the uses of the surgeon-general's office. There were placed the col- 
lections and vast library now safely stored in the new Army Medical 
Museum (p. 107). Later the building was handed over to the Record 
and Pension Division of the War Department, and on June 9, 1893, 
suffered a collapse of the floors, which caused the death and maiming 
of many clerks. During all this time the proscenium pillar, next 
which Mr. Lincoln sat when he was killed, had been preserved in 
place, properly marked; it survived the disaster of 1893, and can still 
be seen. 

The house to which Lincoln was carried, opposite the theater 
(No. 516), is marked by a tablet, and is open to visitors, who are 
shown the rear room on the ground floor in which the great martyr 
died. A large and miscellaneous collection of "Lincoln relics" is 
now displayed by the owner in the other rooms, and an admission 
fee of 25 cents is charged. 

The corner of Eleventh Street is distinguished by the office of the 
long-established and ably edited Evening Star, opposite which, fill- 
ing the whole square on the south side, is the lofty, castellated, steel- 
framed, and stone-walled building intended, when finished, to accom- 
modate the local post office, and to furnish quarters for many public 
offices for which the Government is now paying a high rent in various 
parts of the city. It has more the appearance of a commercial than 
a Government building, and embodies every arrangement for safety 
and convenience known to modern architects. On the southeast cor- 
ner of the avenue and Eleventh Street is Harvey's old-time restau- 
rant, celebrated for its oysters, and next to it Kernan's L3^ceum— a 
vaudeville theater. Next comes 

Twelfth Street. Here the northeast corner is occupied by the tall, 
new Raleigh Hotel, whose lobby is a wonder of marble and metal 
work, and a little above, among fine shops, is the office of The News. 



FROM THE CAPITOL TO THE WHITE HOUSE. 67 

Thirteenth St^'cet follows, with two pretty little parks — that on 
Che right confronted by hotels, restaurants, etc., and by the New 
National Theater, which is among the foremost places of amusement 
in the city. The handsome home of The Post, the leading morning 
newspaper, is just beyond. On the south side of the street, half a 
square is covered by the great brick power-house of the Washington 
& Georgetown Railroad, whose cable system is now the basis of 
the Capital Traction Company. If you care to see what Washington 
looked like forty years ago, glance down Thirteen-and-a-half Street, 
on the lower side of this building, or wander southwest of it, where 
various obscure streets are inhabited by the demi-monde and their 
companions. This region acquired the soubriquet of " the Division " 
during the war, when the provost-marshal used to throw a cordon 
about the whole district at midnight, and put under arrest every 
soldier caught inside the net when morning came. Then comes 

Fourtee7ith Street. This is the most important thoroughfare, 
north and south, in this part of the city, extending from the Long 
Bridge, at the foot of Maryland Avenue, northward to Mount Pleasant. 
The Belt Line cars run southward upon it from Pennsylvania Avenue 
to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, and so on around to the 
jl Capitol, and the Alexandria & Mount Vernon Electric Line termi- 
nates here. At the right (northward) the street slopes steeply up the 
I hill to F Street, and this block, as far as the Ebbitt House, is known 
j as Newspaper Row, because filled with the offices of correspondents 
I of newspapers all over the country. Opposite them, filling the 
northwest corner, is Willard's Hotel. 

I The traditions of IVzIlard's go back to the early days. John 
\ Tayloe, owner of the Octagon House (p. 95), built a hotel, which 
I descended to Ogle Tayloe, and was called the City Hotel, but never 
succeeded until Mrs. Tayloe advised her husband to engage as its 
I manager the steward of a Hudson River steamer whose dining-room 
j arrangements had attracted her admiration. The result was the 
I coming to Washington, from Vermont, of Henry A. Willard, soon 
j followed by three brothers. Their skill and address soon lifted the 
I hotel to a level with the best. Presently, C. C. Willard took charge 
I of the new Ebbitt House, and still later, Tayloe's Hotel was rebuilt, 
I and became the present " Willard's" Hotel, which was opened by a 
I grand banquet at which such men as Edward Everett, J. Q. Adams, 
/ Judge Marshall, Webster, Clay, and Calhoun made merry speeches. 
During the war Willard's Hotel was the most prominent, if not the 
best, hotel at the capital, and every army officer and statesman, from 
Lincoln and Grant down, was entertained there, and many momen- 
tous things have been said and done by these powerful men within 
7 



68 HANDY GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

its walls. Willard's no longer enjoys the distinction of those days, 
but its lobby is still the foremost resort of political giridmeitcs and 
office-seekers, especially from the South and West, 

The block opposite Willard's is devoted to business houses and 
has the Regent Hotel, whose side windows overlook a green expanse 
of parking down to the Potomac. Around the corner to the left, on 
Fifteenth Street, are Allen's (formerly Albaugh's) Grand Opera House, 
occupying a part of the armory of the Washington Light Infantry, 
the house of the Capital Bicycle Club, etc. 

This brings us to the end of the avenue, against the southern por- 
tico of the Treasury. The small wooden building within the gates 
is devoted to the official photographer. Turning to the right, up the 
slope of Fifteenth St7'eet, we pass the busy terminus of F Street, and 
go on to G, where the Riggs House forms a dignified corner-piece. A 
few steps farther the broad avenue in front of the Treasury opens the 
wa}^ northward and brings us to that goal of patriotic ambition — the 
White House. 



VI. 
AT THE EXECUTIVE MANSION, 



The Executive Mansion, more commonly called the White House, 
has gained for itself a world-wide reputation in a century's existence. 
George Washington Was present at the laying of the corner-stone in 
1792, in w^hat then was simply David Burns' old fields stretching 
down to the Potomac (for this was the first public building to be 
erected), but John Adams was the first President to live in the build- 
ing (iSoo), which was still so new and damp that his wife was obliged 
to have a literal house-warming to dry the interior sufficiently for 
safety to health. Its cost, up to that time, had been about $250,000. 
The architect, James Hoban, who had won reputation by building 
some of the fine houses on the Battery in Charleston, took his idea 
of the mansion from the house of the Irish Duke of Leinster, in Dublin, 
who had, in turn, copied the Italian style. The material is Virginia 
sandstone, the length is 170 feet, and the width 86 feet. The house 
( stands squarely north and south, is of two stories and a basement, 
I has a heavy balustrade along the eaves, a semicircular colonnade on 
« the south side (facing the river and finest grounds), and a grand portico 
and porte-cochere on the northern front, added in Jackson's time. 
Its cost, to the present, exceeds $1,500,000. In 1814 the British set 
fire to the building, but heavy rains extinguished the conflagration 
before it had greatly injured the walls. Three years later the house 
had been restored, and the whole was then painted white, to cover 
the ravages of fire on its freestone walls, a color which has been kept 
ever since, and is likely to remain as long as the old house does, not 
only because of the tradition, but because it is really effective among 
the green foliage in which the mansion is ensconced. It was reopened 
for the New Year's Day reception of President Monroe in 1818. 

(69) 



70 - HANDY GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

The President's Grounds consist of some eighty acres sloping 
down to the Potomac Flats. The immediate gardens were early- 
attended to, as is shown by the age and size of the noble trees; but only 
lately has the more distant part of the grounds been set in order. This 
part, as also the park nearer the house, is open freely to the pubiic, 
under the eye of policemen; and here, in warm weather, the Marine 
Band gives out-door concerts in the afternoon, and the people come 
to enjoy them. At such times fashion gathers in its carriages upon 
the winding roads south of the mansion, and assumes the formal 
parade of Rotten Row or the Bois de Boulogne. It is here, too, on 
the sloping terrace just behind the White House, that the children of 
the city gather on Easter Day to roll their colored eggs — a pretty 
custom that is purely local and the origin of which has been quite 
forgotten. Lafayette Square (p. no) ought also to be included as 
practically a part of the President's grounds. 

Admission to certain parts of the White House is almost as free 
to everybody as it is to any other of the people's buildings in their 
capital. Coming from Pennsylvania Avenue by the principal 
approach, along the semicircular carriage drive that leads up from 
the open gates, the visitor enters the stately vestibule through the 
front portico, from whose middle upper window Lincoln made so many 
impromptu but memorable addresses during the war. Here will 
be found doorkeepers, without livery or other distinguishing mark 
save a badge, who direct callers upon the President up the staircase 
to the offices (p. 73}, and form visitors, who wish to see the public 
rooms of the mansion, into little parties, who are conducted under 
their guidance. The first public apartment visited is that on 
the left as you enter, occupying the eastern wing of the building and 
called 

The East Room. This, which was originally designed for a ban- 
quet hall, and so used until 1827, is now the state reception room. 
It is 80 feet in length, 40 feet wide, and 22 feet high, and has 
eight beautiful marble mantels surmounted by tall mirrors. Its 
embellishments are renewed every eight or ten years, reflecting the 
changing fashion in decoration; but the crystal chandeliers, which 
depend from each of the three great panels of the ceiling (dating, 
with their supporting pillars, from Grant's time), are never changed; 
and whatever the style, the profusion of gilding and mirrors gives a 
brilliant background for the gorgeously arrayed assemblages that 
gather here on state occasions, when the hall is a blaze of light and 




ESTABLISHED 1840. 



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Pennsylvania Ave. and Ninth St. 



AT THE EXECUTIVE MANSION. 71 

a garden of foliage and flowers from the great conservatories. Full- 
length portraits of George and Martha Washington are conspicuous 
among the pictures on the walls. The former used to be thought 
one painted by Gilbert Stuart (p. 36), but it is now known to be 
the work of an obscure English artist who copied Stuart's style — a 
"very feeble imitation" Healy pronounced it. 

" Every visitor is told," remarks Mr. E, V. Smalley, who explained 
these facts in The Cejitury Magazine, " that Mrs. Madison cut this 
painting from out of its frame with a pair of shears, to save it from 
the enemy, when she fled from the town [in 1814]; but in her own 
letters describing the hasty flight, she says that Mr. Custis, the 
nephew of Washington, hastened over from Arlington to save the 
precious portrait, and that a servant cut the outer frame with an ax, 
so that the canvas could be removed, stretched on the inner frame." 

The portrait of Mrs. Martha Washington is a modern compo- 
sition by E. B. Andrews of Washington. A full-length portrait of 
Thomas Jefferson, said to be by Gilbert Stuart, and one of Lincoln 
also occupy panels here. 

The East Room is open to any one daily from ten to three, but the 
other official apartments are only visible by special request, or, when, 
at intervals, a custodian leads a party through them. 

Adjoining the East Room, at its southern end, is the Green Room, 
so named from the general color of its decorations and furniture, 
which are traditional. The tone is pale gray green. The ceiling is 
ornamented with an exquisite design of musical instruments entwined 
in a garland with cherubs and flowers, and there is a grand piano. 
There are touches of gilt everywhere upon the ivory-like woodwork, 
and the rococo open-work in the tops of the windows, from which 
the curtains hang, is noticeable. Here hang several notable por- 
traits. One of these is a full-length, by Huntington, President of 
the National Academy, of Mrs. Benjamin Harrison, which was pre- 
sented by the Daughters of the American Revolution, of whose 
society she was president. Another notable portrait by the same 
artist is the full-length of Mrs. Rutherford B. Hayes, presented 
by the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, commemorating 
Mrs. Hayes' courage in maintaining the cold-water regime at the 
Executive Mansion. Three other portraits are hung here by friends. 
One is of Mrs. James K. Polk; another, of th^ second wife of Presi- 
dent Tyler, and the third, of the wife of Major Van Buren, son of 
President Martin Van Buren, known in his time as " Prince Harry." 

Next to this is the somewhat larger (40 by 30 feet) and oval Blicd 



72 HANDY GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

Room, which bows outward in the center of the colonnade of the 
south front of the building, and whose decorations are in pale blue 
and gold. It is here that the President stands when holding recep- 
tions, the ceremonial of which is described elsewhere (p. 128); and 
here President and Mrs. Cleveland were married in 1886. 

The Red Room, west of the Blue Room, a square room of the same 
size as the Green Parlor, has a more home-like look than the others, 
by reason of its piano, mantel ornaments, abundant furniture, and 
pictures, and the fact that it is used as a reception-room and private 
parlor by the ladies of the mansion. The prevailing tone is Pom- 
peiian red, and the walls are covered with portraits, as follows: 
A full-length of President Arthur, by Daniel Huntington, N. A. 
A full-length of Cleveland, by Eastman Johnson. 
A full-length of Benjamin Harrison, by Eastman Johnson, 1895. 
A half-length of James A. Buchanan. 
A half-length of Martin Van Buren, by Healy.^ 
A half-length of Zachary Taylor, by Healy. 
A half-length of John Adams, by Healy. 

All these rooms open upon the corridor running lengthwise the 
building and separated from the vestibule by a partition of glass, 
which President Arthur prevailed upon Congress to order, to replace 
an old wooden one. "The hght coming through the partition of 
wrinkled stained-glass mosaic makes a marvelously rich and gorgeous 
effect, falHng upon the gilded niches where stand dwarf palmetto 
trees, the silvery net-work of the ceiling, and the sumptuous furni- 
ture." In this corridor hang several portraits of Presidents, includ- 
ing a full-length of Washington by an Ecuadorian artist, Cadena of 
Quito, and presented by him; and of Polk, Garfield (by Andrews), 
Hayes, Fillmore, Tyler, Grant (by Le Clair), and Jackson — one of 
Andrews' early efforts. Many of the older ones are by Healy, who 
painted portraits of Presidents J. Q. Adams, Tyler, Jackson, Van 
Buren, Taylor, Fillmore, Polk, Pierce, Buchanan, Lincoln, and Grant. 
Each President is supposed to leave his portrait here. 

The State Dining Room is at the south end of this corridor, on 
the left, in the corner of the house. It me asures 40 by 30 feet, and 

* George P. A. Healy was born in Boston in 1814; went to Paris to study art 
in i8-,6, and spent most of his life in Europe, returning occasionally, and passing 
the years 18^=5 to 1867 in Chicago. He was a vigorous portrait painter, producing 
several hundred pictures, including those of almost every prominent American 
of his time, and many of the most distinguished persons in Europe, where he 
was identified with the court of Louis Phillipe. He painted a few historical 
groups, of which his "Webster Replying to Hayne," now in Faneuil Hall, Bos- 
ton, is best known. He died in 1894, and a gossipy volume of his Reminis- 
cences " was published subsequently. See also pages 46 and 74. 



I 



A T THE EXE C U TI VE MA NSION. 73 

is in the Colonial style, the j)revailing colors being a dull yellow, 
meant to light up warmly under gas-light. 

" The ceiling is surrounded with a frieze of garlands, about 3j^ feet 
wide, with medallions at intervals. From these wreaths and vines 
run to the chandeliers. Beneath the cornice is a heavy frieze about 
four feet in width, w^hich blends into the wall, with garlands of native 
vines, leaves, and fruits. . . . The general character of the work is 
known as ' applique relief,' w^hich is produced by blending transpar- 
en*t colors on a light ground, . . . the effect being greatly increased 
by the fact that the various colors and figures are ' edged up ' in relief 
to imitate the corded or raised work in applique. . . . State dinners 
are usually given once or twice a week during the winter, and are 
brilliant affairs. Lavish use is made of plants and flowers from the 
conservatories, and the table, laden with a rare display of plate, por- 
celain, and cut-glass, presents a beautiful appearance, forming an 
effective setting for the ga}^ toilets of the ladies and their glittering 
jewels. The table service is exceedingly beautiful, and is adorned 
with various representations of the flora and fauna of America. 
The new set of cut-glass was made at White Mills, Pa., and is 
regarded as the finest ever produced in this country. It consists of 
■520 separate pieces, and was especially ordered by the Government 
for the White House. On each piece of the set, from the mammoth 
center-piece and punch -bowl to the tiny salt cellars, is engraved the 
coat of arms of the United States. The execution of the order occu- 
pied several months, and cost $6,000. The table can be made to 
accommodate as many as fifty -four persons, but the usual number of 
guests is from thirty to forty." * 

The western door of the corridor leads into the conservatory, 
which is always in flourishing beauty; and opposite the state dining- 
room is the private or family dining-room, a cozy apartment looking 
out upon the avenue. The private stairway is near its door. A but- 
ler's pantry, a small waiting-room at the right of the vestibule, and 
an elevator complete the list of rooms on this main floor. 

The basement is given up entirely to the kitchen, store-rooms, and 
servants' quarters. 

The business offices of the President and his secretaries are on the 
second floor, at the eastern end, and are reached by a stairway at the 
left of the vestibule. At the head of the stairway sits a messenger 
who directs persons into the large ante-room, which is in reality a 

* To this quotation from Evans it is proper to add that the President sits 
in the middle of the table, with his wife opposite, and the guests are arranged 
without any recognized rule of oflficial precedence — a matter upon which the 
aristocratic early Presidents wasted a deal of thought, only to have Jefferson cut 
the Gordian knot by giving nobody precedence, but treating his guests exactly 
as any private gentleman would do. Nevertheless, the Presidents are expected 
to, and do, acknowledge distinctions in placing their guests, though the rule 
could hardly be formulated. See Chapter X. 



74 HANDY GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

part of the broad hall reaching from end to end of the second floor 
that has been partitioned ofl^. Here are polite and sagacious attend- 
ants, who take the cards of visitors to the President, usually by way 
of the private secretary, and in many cases they get no farther. 

The P7'cside7ifs Private Secretary has grown to be an important 
personage with the increase of executive business, all of whose details 
he supervises, having for himself (at present) the southeast corner 
room, and for his assistants the two rooms across the hall facing 
Pennsylvania Avenue. He has not only the President's correspond- 
ence and ordinary records to look after, but must do much that no 
other office requires. Big ledgers of applications for office are 
posted up daily ; numerous pigeon-holes are filled with letters 
and petitions ; the newspapers are read and scrap-books are 
made ; one room is devoted to telegraph and telephone service ; 
in short, here are all the paraphernalia of a busy public office. 
According to the present rules the President (Mr. Cleveland) 
holds cabinet meetings each Tuesday and Friday at ii.oo a. m.; 
reserves Monday entirely for " public business requiring his uninter- 
rupted attention ;" will receive Senators and Representatives from 
ten to twelve on Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, and other 
persons from 12 to i o'clock; while those having no business, but who 
desire to pay their respects, will be received by the President in the 
East Room at i p. m. on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays. 

The President's office is next to that of the private secretary — a 
large, plain, comfortably furnished room, lined with cases of books 
of law and reference. His great desk is at the southern end of the 
room, and the President sits with his back to the window, which 
commands a wide view down the Potomac; it was from this window 
that Lincoln watched the troops filing across the Long Bridge on 
their way to Virginia — and a day or two later watched them rush- 
ing back again, helter-skelter, after the battle of Bull Run. 

The Cabinet Room is next beyond, immediately over the Green 
Room — another plain, handsome, rather dark apartment, with a 
long table down the center surrounded by arm-chairs. The Presi- 
dent sits at the southern end of the table, with the Secretary of State 
on his right, the Secretary of the Treasury on his left, and the others 
farther down the table. The more or less valuable portraits of 
several past Presidents look down upon them from the walls. 

" It was no part of the plan of the W^hite House . . . that it should 
be a public office, but with the growth of the country and of the political 
patronage system, the proper use of the building as a dwelling for 
the chief magistrate has been more subordinated to its official use as 
a bureau of appointments and a rendezvous for the scheming poli- 
ticians of the two houses of Congress, who claim the Government 
offices in their States as their personal property, to be parceled out 



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A T THE EXECUTIVE MANSION. 75 

by the President in accordance with their wishes. It will doubtless 
surprise many people to learn that hospitality, save in the restricted 
sense of giving dinners, is almost an impossibility to the President of 
the United States, for the reason that he has no beds for guests. 
There are only seven sleeping rooms in the mansion, besides those of 
the servants on the basement floor. If a President has a moderately 
numerous household, ... he can hardly spare for guests more 
than the big state bedroom. A President may wish to invite an 
ambassador and his family, or a party of distinguished travelers 
from abroad, to spend a few days at the White House, but he can not 
do so without finding lodgings elsewhere for the members of his own 
household. It has been said over and over again, in the press, that 
Congress should either provide offices for the President, or should 
build for him a new dwelling, and devote the mansion exclusively to 
business purposes; but Congress is in no hurry to do either." — E. F. 
SjnaUey. 

The Executive Mansion is well guarded. A large force of watch- 
men, including police officers, is on duty inside the mansion at all 
hours, and a continuous patrol is maintained by the local police of the 
grounds immediately surrounding the mansion, and it is hardly 
possible for any one to approach the building at any time without 
detection. The patrol of the grounds entails special hardships in 
the bitter cold nights of winter, and it was to lessen these that the 
sentry boxes were erected. As an additional safeguard, automatic 
alarm signals are fixed in different parts of the house, and there are 
telephones and telegraphs to the military posts, so that a strong force 
of police and soldiers could be obtained almost at a moment's notice. 
The annoyance and danger from cranks, as well as villains, has thus 
been as fully guarded against as it is possible to do. 



VII. 
THE EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS. 



The Executive Departments are those over which the cabinet 
officers preside and in which the daily administration of the Gov- 
ernment is carried on. There have not always been so many, nor 
have they always been known by their present names ; and it is only 
recently, under the law of 1886, prescribing the order of succession to 
the Presidency, that any authoritative sequence could be observed in 
the list, which is now as follows : 

The Department of State, presided over by the Honorable the 
Secretary of State. 

The Treasury Department, the Secretary of the Treasury. 

The War Department, the Secretary of War. 

The Department of Justice, the Attorney-General. 

The Post Office Department, the Postmaster-General. 

The Navy Department, the Secretary of the Navy. 

The Department of the Interior, the Secretary of the Interior. 

The Department of Agriculture, the Secretary of Agriculture. 

All these are situated in the immediate neighborhood of the 
Executive Mansion, except those of the Post Office, Interior, and 
Agriculture. 

The departments are the business offices of the Government, and 
" politics " has much less to do with their practical conduct than the 
popular clamor would lead one to suppose. The occasional shirk or 
blatherskite makes himself noticed, but the average employe, from 
head to foot of the list, faithfully attends to his business and does his 
work. This must be so, or the business of the nation could not be 
carried on ; and otherwise, men and women would not grow gray in 
its service, as they are doing, because their fidelity and skill can not 
be spared so long as their strength holds out. Year by year, with 
the growth of intelligence and the extension of the civil service idea 
and practice, "politics" has less and less to do with the practical 

(76) 



THE EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS. 77 

administration of the business of the nation at its capital; and year 
by year, better and more economical methods and results are 
achieved. No civil pensions have yet been established as the further 
reward of long and faithful service. 

The Department of State stands first on the list, and occupies 
the south and noblest front of the State, War, and Navy Building 
— that towering pile of granite west of the White House, which has 
been so honestly admired by the populace and so often condemned 
by critics. The architect was A. B. Mullet, who had a great fondness 
for the "Italian renaissance," as is shown by the post offices of 
New York and Boston, and by other public edifices executed while he 
was supervising architect of the Treasury. This building is 471 feet 
long by 253 feet wide, and surrounds a paved court-yard containing 
engine-houses, etc. It is built, outwardly, of granite from Virginia 
and Maine, and the four fagades are substantially alike, though the 
south front, where space and slope of the ground favors, has a 
grander entrance than the other sides. The building was begun in 
1871 and not wholly finished until 1893, covers four and a half acres, 
contains two miles of corridors, and cost $10,700,000. It is in charge 
of a superintendent, responsible to a commission composed of the 
three Secretaries occupying it. 

The Department of State has charge not only of all correspond- 
ence and dealings with foreign nations, but of the correspondence 
between the Presidents and the Executives of the States. It is the 
custodian of treaties with foreign states, of the laws of the United 
States, the publication of which is under its direction; and of the 
Great Seal, which is affixed to all executive proclamations, to various 
commissions, and to warrants for the extradition of fugitives from 
justice. The Secretary of State is the "premier," in the sense that 
he is the first cabinet officer appointed, and first (after the Vice- 
President) in rank of succession to the Presidency in case of an 
accidental vacancy. His lieutenants are the first, second, and third, 
assistant secretaries and a chief clerk, and the work of the depart- 
j""<^nt is divided among seven bureaus, as follows: Diplomatic Bureau 

iplomatic correspondence; Consular Bureau — consular corre- 
spondence; Bureau of Indexes and Archives — opening, preparing, 
indexing, and registering all correspondence, and preservation of the 
archives; Bureau of Accounts — custody and disbursement of appro- 
priations, indemnity funds and bonds, and care of the property; 
Bu 3au of Rolls and Library — custody of the treaties, etc.; promul- 
gation of the laws, etc.; care and superintendence of the library and 
puh:"c documents; care of the Revolutionary archives, and of papers 
relating to international commissions; Bureau of Statistics — edits 
and unblishes the consular reports and the annual report to Congress 
entii ed "Commercial Relations of the United States." 



78 HANDY GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

All of the apartments of the " foreign office" are elegant, and one 
fancies he sees a greater formality and dignity, as certainly there is 
more of studious quiet, here than in any other department. The 
Secretary and assistant secretaries occupy a line of handsome offices 
in the second story, looking southward across the park, among which 
is the long and stately room assigned to conferences with representa- 
tives of foreign governments, or similar meetings, and hence called 
the Diplomatic Room. An opportunity to inspect this should be 
accepted, if only to obtain a sight of the likenesses of the past Secre- 
taries of State, with which its walls are almost covered. All of these 
portraits are by men of talent, and some are of superior merit: That 
of Clay, by E. D. Marchant, and those of Fish and Frelinghuysen, 
by Huntington, are especially praised. Lord Ashburton is here also, 
beside Webster — his great coadjutor in the adjudication of the 
boundary between the United States and Canada. This room, 
the furniture, rugs, and hangings of which are dark and elegant, 
is said to have been arranged by Secretary Hamilton Fish. Near by 
is another elegant apartment — the Diplomatic Aiite-Room, where 
foreign dignitaries await audience with the premier. 

The show-room of the department, however, is The Library, 
in spite of the fact that several curious objects, formerly exhibited 
there, are no longer on view. 

The precious original drafts of the Declaration of Independence 
and of the Constitution were disintegrating and fading under exposure 
to the light, and have been shut up in a steel safe, after having been 
hermetically sealed between plates of glass, which arrangement, it is 
hoped, will stop their decay. A precise fac-simile of the Declaration, 
made about 1820, hangs upon the Library wall. The Great Seal and 
certain curious early treaties of oriental and barbarous states are no 
longer exhibited. Here may be seen, however, the war sword of 
Washington — the identical weapon he was accustomed to wear in 
camp and campaign; and the sword of Jackson, at New Orleans — 
broken, to be sure, but mended by a skillful armorer, and not by 
himself at a blacksmith's forge, as the old story relates. Jefferson's 
writing-desk, Franklin's staff and buttons from his court dress, a 
lorgnette given by Washington to Lafayette, a copy of the Pekin 
Gazette, which has been /;-/;//'<?<'/ continuously, as a daily newspaper, 
since the eighth century, and several other personal relics and 
historical curiosities will rew^ard the visitor. An illustrated and 
interesting account of these and other treasures was published in 
Harper's Magazine for March, 1878. 

The Library itself is a very notable one, coming only after those 
of the governments of Great Britain and France in importance as a 



THE EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS. 79 

collection of books of international law and diplomacy. Cognate 
works, such as biographies, histories, and travels of a certain sort, 
supplement this central collection, and the whole now includes some 
60,000 volumes. Its purpose is to serve as a reference library for the 
department. It also includes a great quantity of the papers of public 
men of the past, which have been acquired by purchase or otherwise, 
and are distinct from the correspondence archives of the department. 
For the papers of Washington (bound into 336 volumes) $45,000 was 
paid in 1834 and 1849; for the Madison papers (75 vols., 1848) $25,000; 
for the Jefferson MSS. (137 vols., 1848) $20,000; and for the Monroe 
papers (22 vols., 1849) $20,000. More recently have been acquired 
the papers of Hamilton (65 vols.), of Benjamin Franklin (32 vols., 
$35,000), and extensive records of the Revolutionary army. 

The War Department has quarters in the same great building, 
occupying the western and part of the northern front, as is indicated 
by the cannons lying upon the buttresses of the porches. The Sec- 
retary and Assistant Secretary of War, the General of the army, and 
several military bureaus have their offices there, but none of them 
are open, of course, to the casual visitor. At the head of the stair- 
case, near the northwestern corner, are models of certain arms and 
ordnance, and of wagons, ambulances, etc., and also two show-cases 
of life-size lay figures exhibiting the uniforms of various ranks in the 
Revolutionary army. The wall of the staircase is embellished with 
portraits of past Secretaries. The "ordnance museum," which used 
to exist in the Winder Building across Seventeenth Street, at the 
corner of F, has been abolished, and its specimens that were 
worth anything are scattered among other collections. 

This old IVvider Buildmg, erected many years ago by Gen. Wm. 
H. Winder, an army officer who distinguished himself in the early 
part of the War of 1812, and commanded the troops here which failed 
to defend Washington in 1814, was intended for a hotel. It was 
taken for offices of the War Department, however, and has been so 
occupied ever since. In it General Halleck had his office and the 
staff headquarters of the army during the Civil War, Secretary 
Stanton's office being in the building demolished to make room for 
the present structure. 

General Grants Headquarters, when, after the war, he lived in 
Washington in command of the army, were in the large house with 
the high stoop on the opposite or southeast corner of Seventeenth 
and F streets. It is now a private residence. McClellan's head- 
quarters during the early half of the war were at the northeast 
corner of Lafayette Square, now the Cosmos clubhouse (p. 115). 



80 HANDY GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

The military bureaus of the War Department are under the follow- 
ing staff-officers: Adjutant General, Inspector General, Quartermas- 
ter General, Commissary General of Subsistence, Surgeon General 
(in whose department is the Army Medical Museum (p. 107), Pay- 
master General, Chief of Engineers, Chief of Ordnance, Judge Advo- 
cate General (the law officer of the army), Chief Signal Officer, and 
Chief of the Record and Pension Office (p. 66). 

None of these officers, although regularly on duty, wear the slight- 
est approach to a uniform; the clerks and attendants are all civilians, 
and there is not a guard or soldier (in appearance) anywhere around 
the place. The same is true of the Navy Department; and even the 
cavalrymen who used to gallop between the Capitol and the White 
House with messages, have been replaced by telephones. This may 
be very democratic, and discouraging to the ghost of "Csesarism," 
which frightens people from time to time; but it is far from pictur- 
esque. If the army and navy men would let a modest amount of 
blue and gold appear, as though they were rather fond of the uniform 
of their country's service, and if the diplomatic corps (which rarely 
have the grace even to unfurl their national flags on their legations) 
would make some outdoor display of the livery and equipage to 
which they are entitled at home, and which they are required to 
exhibit in other capitals of the world, it would hurt none of these 
persons, and it would contribute a great deal to the color and gayety 
of this already brilliant and beautiful city. Something of this kind 
ought to be enforced for its moral as well as picturesque effect. 

The Navy Department has possession of the remaining third of the 
building, with an entrance facing the White House, signified by 
anchors upon the portico. The Secretary and Assistant Secretary pre- 
side over nine bureaus, whose chiefs are detailed officers of the 
navy. These are: 

I. Bureau of Navigation, having the practical control of the ships 
and men in actual service, and including the Hydrographic Office and 
Naval Academy at Annapolis, but not the War College at Newport. 
2. Bureau of Yards and Docks. 3. Bureau of Equipment, which 
has charge, among other things, of the Naval Observatory (p. 158), 
the Nautical Almanac, and the Compass Office. 4. Bureau of 
Ordnance. 5. Bureau of Construction and Repair. 6. Bureau of 
Steam Engineering. 7. Bureau of Medicine and Surgery, under 
whose supervision is maintained a Miisciini of Hys^icnc, at No. 1707 
New York Avenue, which is interesting to specialists. 8. Bureau of 
Supplies and Accounts (but the Navy Pay Office is at No. 1429 New 
York Avenue). 9. Office of the Judge Advocate General — the 



THE EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS. 81 

department's law officer. lo. Office of the Commandant of the 
Marine Corps, who is responsible directly to the Secretary of the 
Navy. By the time a ship is built, equipped, armed, and manned, 
she has gone through every one of these bureaus, and must have 
had a good pilot if she escaped being dashed to pieces against some 
of their regulations, or crushed by collision of authority between 
their chiefs. 

The models of ships, on view in the corridor near the entrance 
and on the next floor above, form an exhibit of great interest, graph- 
ically displaying the difference between the early wooden frigates 
and line-of -battle ships and the modern steel cruisers and turreted 
men-of-war. These models ought not to be overlooked; the library, 
also, is well worth attention, on account of the portraits of 
departed Secretaries, as w^ell as for the sake of its prof essional books. 

The Treasury. — The financial department and the actual treas- 
ury of the Government are housed in the imposing but some- 
what gloomy building which closes the vista up Pennsylvania Avenue 
from the Capitol, and which nearly adjoins the White House park on 
the east. This structure, which, suitably to the alleged American 
worship of money, has been given the form of a pagan temple, is of 
the Ionic-Greek order of architecture modified to suit local require- 
ments. The main building, with its long pillared front on Fifteenth 
Street, was erected of Virginia sandstone, after plans by Robert 
Mills, and completed in 1841. Some years later extensions were 
undertaken under the architectural direction of Thomas U. Walter, 
which enlarged the building greatly, produced the magnificent granite 
porticos at each end, and resulted in the beautifully designed western 
fa5ade. The whole building, completed in 1869, is 466 feet long and 
264 wide exclusive of the porticos, incloses two courts, and has cost 
about $10,000,000. 

The Treasury is a place every stranger visits, yet there is little to 
be seen there, unless one is satisfied to stand in gasping admiration 
of heaps of money which he is not allowed to touch. The building 
is open from 9.00 till 2.00; and between 11.00 and 12.00 and i.oo and 
2.00 o'clock, persons who assemble at the office of the Treasurer are 
formed into parties, and conducted to the doors of certain rooms, 
where the guides volubly explain the w^ork in progress there. 

Thus you may see the girls counting and recounting the sheets of 
specially made paper upon which all the United States bonds, notes, 
and revenue stamps are printed; this is the beginning of the long 
routine of " money making," and not one mu.st go unaccounted for. 
When every imperfect sheet has been joicked out and replaced by a 



82 HANDY GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

good one, the packages are sent to the printer (see Bureau of Engrav- 
ing and Printing, p. 98). Next you may be shown the large room to 
which piles of similar sheets, printed with the faces and backs of 
notes of various denominations from $1.00 to $1,000, have been 
returned, to receive here, upon small steam presses, the red seal, 
which completes the value of the paper as a promise to pay. The 
celerity is remarkable with which the ladies in this room examine the 
new bills for defects, and make the last of the fifty-two countings 
through which the paper passes. It w^as in this division of this 
department that women first obtained employment from the Govern- 
ment, under Treasurer Spinner, whose eccentric signature became so 
familiar on the war-time greenbacks. In his day the notes were cut 
apart with shears, and Spinner thought women likely to handle 
these more deftly than men. 

These pretty notes, the representatives of the hard cash stored in 
the vaults, reach the public only through the Cash Roojn, a large 
apartment on the main floor, walled with a great variety of exquisite 
native and foreign marbles, and provided with a public gallery, whence 
all its operations may be overlooked; but visitors ought to keep very 
quiet. Here tightly bound packages of notes of a single denomina- 
tion, each containing 4,000 bills, are prepared for shipment to the 
sub-treasuries and other financial agents of the Government, or, with 
the loose cash needed, are paid out over the counter. The business 
is that of an ordinary bank, or, rather, of an extraordinary one, for 
checks of enormous value are frequently cashed here — one reaching 
as high as $10,000,000. 

When the various legal-tender notes (greenbacks, silver certificates, 
treasury notes, or gold certificates) are sent in for redemption, they 
go into the redemption division, where they are counted and sorted 
into packages — again by the quick fingers of women. These pack- 
ages are then irretrievably mutilated by punches, sliced length- 
wise, and each half is counted separately by other clerks. If all 
proves to be right (an error is quickly traceable), a receipt is given, 
enabling the cashier to give back new notes in exchange for the old 
ones, or reissue to the public, in coin, an amount equal to what has 
been presented that day for redemption. Sometimes the mere frag- 
ments, or soaked or charred remains, of notes are sent in — grim 
reminders 

of most disastrous chances, 
Of moving accidents by flood and field; 

but if the evidence of good faith satisfies the chief, and the amount 
can be verified, crisp new notes are sent to the owner in return. 



THE EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS. 83 

This opens a door for fraud, which rascals have tried to enter, but 
they have rarely succeeded. In the office of the present United 
States Treasurer. Daniel N. Morgan, alongside his little receipt to 
his predecessor for $740,817,410.78!-, the amount taken into custody 
by him, may be seen, framed, what purports to be a $500 bill, made 
up of sixteen pieces cut from various parts of sixteen other genuine 
$500 bills which had been sent in and redeemed as "mutilated." These 
reserved fragments, combined, made a seventeenth bill, which perhaps 
might have been accepted also, had it been less clumsily fabricated. 

Finally, the old bills, punched and cut in two (see above), are sent 
to carefully guarded maceraters — one in the Treasury Building for 
the destruction of the old national bank notes, and another for the 
destruction of United States notes, at the Bureau of Engraving and 
Printing; there they are ground into wet pulp, which is sold to paper 
mills and to the makers of the ugly "souvenirs" offered for sale to 
" tourists at various places in the city. 

The relation between the Treasury and the jiational batiks is 

very close, and employs a considerable part of the Treasurer's force. 

■ The United States guarantees the notes — = the issue of which was 

' greatly restricted in 1879 — of every national bank, and obliges each 

bank to deposit here, as security, Government bonds, equal to gold, 

] against which they are permitted to issue their circulating notes to 

, the amount of 90 per cent of the par value of such deposited bonds. 

1 Over $250,000,000 worth of bonds so deposited are still held in a small 

I steel room, into which visitors may gaze through a grating; or an 

j officer may sometimes admit 3^ou within the inclosure, and give you 

j the amusement of handling a package worth $5,000,000. This store 

] of reserved wealth is constantly changing in amount, because new 

\ banks are continually forming, while many of the older banks are 

I retiring their currency, which is effected mainly through the Comp- 

' troller's office and the National Bank Redemption Agency of the 

Treasurer's office, as the division for the redemption of national bank 

currency is usually styled. To this division banks all over the 

I country send packages of bills aggregating the tidy sum of $200,000 

, or $300,000 a day. 

I After it has been recorded in the ledgers, it is sorted by a staff of 
I counters, mostly women, who place together all the notes of each 
bank, regardless of whence they come. So many of these as are fit 
for use are returned to the banks, while the torn or worn-out cur- 
rency, retained for destruction, is replaced, to the amount due each 
correspondent, by new notes issued in their respective names. This 
office thus becomes a currency clearing-house for the whole country. 



84 HANDY GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

collecting and distributing to each bank of issue its own widely 
scattered notes, which it may then reissue if the bank so chooses, or 
may otherwise permanently retire by returning them here to be 
destroyed, receiving in return an equal amount of its deposited 
bonds. The national banks pay, by proportionate assessment, the 
whole expense of this division. 

Thus far, we have dealt only with the paper representatives 
of the Government's treasure. The real currency, coined money 
amounting to $200,000,000 or $300,000,000, is stored in the vaults 
underneath. "When circumstances favor him, the visitor may be 
shown, if not the coin itself, at any rate the steel cage, 89 feet long, 
57 feet wide, and 12 feet high, under the northeast court, in which is 
kept the silver that " backs up " the silver certificates. Here, at the 
beginning of 1896, there were stacked up about 150,000,000 coined 
silver dollars in a solid mass weighing 5,000 tons. The total amount 
of money and securities at that time in Uncle Sam's vaults of 
this building was about $800,000,000, nearly one-quarter of which 
was hard cash. 

Besides the principal task and responsibility of looking after the 
revenues and disbursements of the Government, the Treasury 
takes charge of all matters pertaining to navigation and the mer- 
chant marine, and hence has under its jurisdiction such apparently 
anomalous bureaus as the Coast Survey, the lighthouse and life- 
saving service, the revenue-cutter service and marine hospitals, 
the inspection of steam vessels, and the Fish Commission (p. 107). 
Not much in any of these offices attracts the sight-seer. The Life- 
Saving Service has a series of models and specimens of the appara- 
tus used in saving the lives of shipwrecked marines, which can usually 
be seen; in the office of the supervising architect are many "highly 
executed drawings of elevations and plans of the public buildings 
erected by the United States, interesting to architects and civil 
engineers "; the Department library has 20,000 volumes, and is open 
to visitors ; and, lasth% a proper introduction will enable the visitor 
who is curious in criminal matters to inspect the rogues' gallery and 
police museum of the Secret Service, which deals with counterfeiters, 
smugglers, "moonshiners" or distillers of illegal spirits, etc. Inci- 
dentally, it may be remarked that, although in this wonderful treasure- 
house money and securities seem to be handled like merchandise, " a 
most careful supervision is maintained over all the employes while 
on duty, and at night a force of sixty watchmen, most of them 
veteran soldiers, patrol every part of the building." 



THE EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS. 85 

The Department of Justice and the Court of Claims, which 

attend to suits against the Government, and give legal advice to its 
officers, share the brownstone office building on Pennsylvania Ave- 
nue, across the street from the Treasury. The portraits of his prede- 
cessors in the Attorney-General's room are all that would be likely 
to attract a stranger there, unless he were a lawyer interested in 
the library and the public sessions of the Court of Claims. 

The Departments of the Interior and of the Post Office occupy 
several buildings on F Street and elsewhere, the principal two of 
which are on Seventh Street between G and E streets. As the 
ranking officer is the Postmaster-General, let us first look at 

The General Post Office. An irregular and scanty but author- 
ized postal system was organized in the American colonies as early 
as 1692 by patent to Thomas Neale. This expired in 17 10, when the 
English postal system was extended to the colonies, and it slowly 
grew until, in 1753, Benjamin Franklin was appointed Deputy Post- 
master-General for the Colonies. The Revolution overthrew the 
••"»yal mail, but when peace came the Continental Congress established 
a. new system, and put Franklin again in charge of the first United 
States mails. Postage stamps were not adopted by the Government 
until 1847, and until lately were printed by private contractors, but 
are now made at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing (p. 98). 

The first building for this department was burned in 1836. The 
present one covers its site, and has been extended to include the 
whole square on Seventh Street between E and F streets, back to 
Eighth Street — 300 by 204 feet. The style is a modified Corinthian, 
designed by Robert Mills and carried out and extended by Walter, 
who was so long supervising architect of the Treasury. Did it stand 
out where it could be properly surveyed, it would be regarded as 
one of the most beautiful of the public edifices. It v/as not wholly 
completed until 1855, and then had cost about $2,000,000. The center 
of the Eighth Street front has an interesting carving representing 
the railroad and the telegraph. 

The Dead Letter Office is the only show-part of this hive of 
workers, though nearly every detail of the daily business would 
interest visitors. This office is on the F Street front, and signs in 
the halls direct one to go up-stairs to the visitors' gallery. Here there 
is first to be seen a museum of the astounding variety of things 
daily intrusted to the mails, all gathered from parcels that never 
reached their destination. It would be difficult to think of any class 
of objects, natural or artificial, which is not represented here, and 
some of the things are both intrinsically valuable and curious. The 



86 HANDY GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

cTerkTsit whf .'"'' '°"." "P°" "'^ """"^^'i ™™ where those 
Clerks sit who examine and d spose of the " Hm,!" ,^o,-i .v . 

those letters and packages which for some r.f "'^■'-"'^' ■'■ 

EvfrV^ ?e«rn"e"4aTe?:r^;atlrfsT^^^ t"r f^k^ ^""T"^- 

letter or otler ardcle ca. be ret'^i'^nS'"? '^, f°™d by ,,,hi,h the 
addressee, this is at once done if not ?^ " 'J.\s<>'>der or to the 

Secrit ",'1T °"" P'°P'^ -'* «^« Government. Hence he 
Secretary of the Interior is charged with the supervision of public 

landrSetw"^ \ '^'T '"' '°^^"''™^- Pe-ions and boun^ 
ands the public lands and surveys, the Indians, education , railroads 
the geological survey, the census, the National parks re ervaUons 

ments. There was sent to it the Patent Office and Census from thl 
Department of State, the:General Land Office from'he Vr ,n 
Indian Affairs from the War Department, and the Pension Offl'' 
rom under the control of the War and Navy depart etT ut 

buHtrffi ' "f ^^'^"^^^^ ^' ^''' - misc'ellanL d ;t^^^^^^^ 
but Its offices offer little to interest the casual sight-seer He wj 
wish, however, to visit one or two. '''^^ 

--I^^!-?!^!!!^!!^^^!^^^ their offices in the great 

from'tt Smmfssf?/eT of-'S;^^^^^^^^ Land 'o^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 
officials and employes; instructs mine fnspectorvsn^.r^-''''"^' '^^^''^^^ ^S^i"«t 
to the Indians, to the distribution S certain nn hit '^^'^'''' matters pertainiuR 
ment's charitable and correSiSna? in^t?tfALS^ ''.^'''v'i'"^"^^' ^o the Govern- 
the National parks and ?ocolleSaidldbv?h^ r *^^ ^^'^'^"* °*' Columbia, to 
tary in the absence of that offici? Vvt 5^cX/ ^.^'T'""?^"*' ^"^ ^^^s as Secre- 
general supervision of the business of thl board { ^r''^'":y ^-/ ^^'^ ///Av/.v has 
signs letters patent; examines off cialbonHf/r.!^'^ Pension appeals; counter- 
and disbarment from pracTice of aUornevrand^"l^°"*^ ^'^^ the admission 

the absence of both that officer and the JTrstlssis5«nf^''"f''^' a.sSecretary in 
Aj^orney-Genera/ is the chief lan'omr^nJfhf^T.} }■ ^^ecretary. The Assistant 
General Land Office are sei?t to L?office-^for .nn fn ''^''^^ ^X^ appeals from the 
heard by him in the more imSrtant cases or h.^^kI^^^^"- J^\^^ arguments are 
pared under his supervision ' ^ ^^^^^' ^"^ decisions are pre- 



James L. Norris 



COUNSELOR IN PATENT OAUSES 



Solicitor of American and 
. . . Foreign Patents . . . 



.ESTABLISHED 7869. 




IN ACTIVE PRACTICE 
TWENTY -SIX YEARS. 



COR. F AND FIFTH STS., 
WASHINGTON, D. C. 



NORRIS' NEW OFFICE BUILDING, 
ERECTED IN 1880. 



PATENTS. 



]^.ULL INFORMATION as to requirements and costs for 
21^ securing Letters Patent on Inventions, Caveats, Trade- 
^ marks, etc., SENT FREE in pamphlet on request, it 
naming some of my clients in every State. 

Letters Patent procured in the United States and Foreign 
Countries. Trade-mark, Label, Caveat, and Copyright protection 
secured. 

Searches n^ade and opinions given as to the validity and 
infringement of Letters Patent, 



SPECIAL REFERENCES 



NATIONAL BANK OF WASHINGTON, WASHINGTON, D. C. 
NATIONAL BANK OF THE REPUBLIC, WASHINGTON, D. C. 
CENTRAL NATIONAL BANK, WASHINGTON, D. C. 
RIGGS <& CO., BANKERS, WASHINGTON, D. C. 
DAN' L B. CLARKE, PRES'T FRANKLIN INS. CO., WASH- 
INGTON, D. C. 

CORRESPONDENCE SOLICITED. 



THE EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS. 87 

Doric-Greek building covering the two squares reaching from Seventh 
to Ninth streets between F and G, which everybody calls the 
Patent Office, because designed for and mainly occupied by that 
bureau. The first law granting patents was passed in 1790, and 
until 1803 the power was vested in the State Department. In 18 10 
Congress purchased Blodgett's "great" hotel — a big incomplete 
brick building at the southwest corner, now covered by the General 
Post Office — for the accommodation of the Commissioner of Patents, 
and were obliged to enlarge it in 1832. 

" July 4, 1836, Congress passed the most important law in the 
history of patents, reorganizing the entire American system of grants, 
providing for an examination into the novelty and usefulness of 
inventions, and appropriated $108,000 of the money then standing to 
the credit of inventors, for the purpose of constructing a building for 
the exclusive use of the Patent Office. The original plans were 
made by William P. Elliott, formerly a draftsman in the office, for 
which he was paid $300. Robert Mills, the architect of the Treasury 
Department, was the constructing engineer. The secona story was 
designed as a vast museum or ' National Gallery ' for the display of 
models, . . . and the collection then in the possession of the Gov- 
ernment was the most interesting in the world. The original plans 
contemplated the building to be a Grecian-Doric structure, covering 
a public reservation of four acres which L' Enfant, the French 
engineer who planned the Federal capital, set apart for a ' national 
church.'" The imposing portico on the south wing (F Street front) 
was to be of magnificent proportions, and in designing the graceful 
columns at that entrance, the celebrated Parthenon at Athens was 
followed and the precise dimensions used. . . . Before any part 
of the building, however, was ready for occupancy, everything belong- 
ing to the Patent Office was, on the night of December 15, 1836, wiped 
out of existence by fire. There were destroyed 7,000 models, 168 
volumes of records, 9,000 drawings, 10,000 original descriptions and 
specifications, 230 volumes belonging to the Scientific Library, 
and ... a volume of inestimable historical interest, containing 
drawings made by the inventor and engineer, Robert Fulton, illus- 
trating the machinery for making steam subservient to man's direction 
for purposes of navigation, and containing representations of his 
steamboat as she passed through the Highlands, when, in August, 
1807, the successful trip up the Hudson to Albany was made. . . . 
After this fire the office found a temporary home at the residence of 
the commissioner, where the business was transacted until accommo- 
dations were offered by the city authorities in the city hall. Steps 
were taken at once to restore the records and models. Each patentee 
was personally addressed through the post office, and owing to the 
restriction enacted by Congress that no patent granted before the fire 
cc .Id be given in evidence without being first recorded anew, the 
return of the most important was secured. — Helen F. Shedd, C/iau- 
tauquan. May i, 1892. 



88 HANDY GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

The south wing of the building, of Virginia freestone and granite, 
270 feet in length, was completed in the spring of 1840, at a cost of 
$422,000. The Patent Office staff then took possession, but set apart 
a room in the basement for a special exhibition of agricultural inven- 
tions, the seeds sent home from abroad, etc. To this were presently 
added the bequests and various curiosities collected by the " National 
Institute," and the great amount of valuable material brought home 
by the Wilkes and other exploring expeditions, which formed the 
nucleus of the National Museum and were taken, later, to the Smith- 
sonian Institution. These overflowed into the upper parts of the 
building, and everybody was crowded. In 1849, therefore. Congress 
appropriated $50,000 out of the patent fund as a starter, and three 
years later the east wing had been completed, built of Maryland 
marble, at a cost of $600,000, nearly half of which was taken from 
the earnings of the office. The west (Ninth Street) wing was next 
built of Maryland marble, between 1852 and 1856, at a cost of 
$750,000, and taken possession of by the General Land Office. In 
the same year the north granite wing was begun, and was completed 
in 1867 at a cost of $575,000. The total cost of the building was 
$2,347,011.65. It forms a hollow square, and is the most classical 
and beautiful domicile occupied by any executive department, but, 
unfortunately,. it is so hemmed in that it can not well be seen. 

The Hall of Models is still a spacious room on the main floor, 
but the removal of the historical relics to the National Museum (p. 103) 
and the fire of 1877, which destroyed 87,000 models and some 600,000 
drawings, etc. , have left little worth looking at. The office has 
issued thus far about 500,000 patents, and its earnings have been 
far in excess of the cost of buildings and all expenses since its origin. 

The General Lajtd Office, which is charged wnth the survey, man- 
agement, and sale of the public domain, has quarters in this building, 
and the Ce^istis v^Si^ conducted in offices across the way (512 Ninth 
Street), connected with it by a bridge. The Indian Bureau, which 
has charge of all the Indians, reservations, schools, etc., resides in the 
top of the Atlantic Building on the south side of F Street, between 
Ninth and Tenth streets ; and the office of the Commissioner of 
Education is near by, at the northeast corner of Eighth and G 
Streets, where an extensive library of pedagogy is open to the 
inspection of teachers. The Geological Survey has fine offices in 
the Hooe Building, 1330 F Street. More or less affiliated with it is 
an advisory committee called the Board on Geographic Maine s. 



THE EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS, 89 

authorized by Congress to consider and decide as to the proper form 
and spelling of all geographic terms, in order to make a uniform 
usage on the maps and charts and in the publications of the Govern- 
ment. The practical effect is to correct the usage of the whole 
country in this particular, by means of this board's occasional publi- 
cations which careful editors and writers follow. The only remain- 
ing and the most costly branch of the Interior Department is 

The Pension Bureau. This occupies an immense red brick build 
ing, 400 by 200 feet in dimensions and four stories high, standing 
in Judiciary Square, on G street, between Fourth and Fifth, and 
looking like a cotton factory without and a prison within. It has 
two gable roofs set crosswise and largely composed of glass, lighting 
the vast interior court. The structure is said to be fire-proof — a 
statement which caused General Sheridan to exclaim, "What a 
pity ! " A band of terra cotta, forming an ornamental frieze around 
the exterior of the building, just above the first story windows, 
portrays a procession of spirited marching figures of soldiers of 
the late war — horse, foot, and dragoons. This is the only artistic 
thing about the building, and is worthy of a better setting. The 
offices, however, are more commodious and comfortable than many in 
more ornate edifices, and open upon tiers of galleries that surround 
all sides of a great tiled court. This court is broken by two cross- 
rows of colossal columns and lofty arches sustaining the central part 
of the roof and painted in imitation of Sienna marble, while the lower 
gallery rests upon a colonnade of iron pillars, speckled counterfeits of 
Tennessee marble. The floor of 'the court is well filled with cases of 
drawers containing the papers of applicants for pensions, or an in- 
crease, so tidily arranged that the file of each man can be referred to 
without delay. It is very helpful, however, to know the registry 
number of the case, which is borne by every paper pertaining to it. 
The cases on file exceed a million ; about 967,000 beneficiaries are 
carried on the rolls, and the outlay of the bureau is now about 
$140,000,000 a year. Over 1,800 persons, one-sixth, of whom are 
women, are employed here, but room is left for offices for the Rail- 
road Commissioners on the third floor. The United States Pension 
Agency, where local pensioners are paid, is at No. 308 F Street. 

The spacious covered court of this building has been used on the 
last three occasions for the giving of the ifiaugiiral ball, which cus- 
tom decrees shall take place on the evening of the day each new 
President is ushered into office. In the early days, when the minuet, 
stiff brocades, and powdered hair were still fashionable, these were 



90 HANDY &UIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

affairs as elegant and enjoyable as they were select and stately; but 
latterly the number of officials and their families properly entitled 
to attend such a semi-official function has become so great, and the 
crowd who are able to buy tickets is so much greater, that no system 
of restriction thus far devised has been successful in keeping this 
ball down to a manageable size. It is said that 17,000 persons were 
crushed into the court of the Pension Office Building at the inaugural 
ball of March 4, 1885, and the crowds since have prevented any 
dancing or other real enjoyment of the festivities, M'hich resulted 
only in injury to health, costly toilets, and the building. Hereafter 
these balls, if continued, will probably be held in the great " Conven- 
iion Hall " over the new market at New York Avenue and Fifth 
Street, which has been built for the accommodation of the large 
social, religious, and professional assemblages that more and more 
choose the capital as a periodical meeting place. 

Certain other branches of the Government, not under depart- 
ment control but responsible directly to Congress, may be briefly 
spoken of here. 

The Sniithsotiian hisiitution is the most important of these, 
and is elsewhere described in detail (p. loi). 

The Government Printing Office, whose chief is styled "the 
Public Printer," is the place where the Congressional Record, or 
report of the daily proceedings of Congress, is printed; also all the 
public and private bills and documents for Congress, the yearly 
departmental reports, and the enormous mass of miscellaneous pub- 
lications of the Government. It is located on North Capitol and H 
streets, 2,900 persons are employed during the congressional session 
and about 2,700 at other periods, and it is said to be the largest print- 
ing office in the world. The yearly cost aj^proaches $3,500,000. 

Everything connected with the making of books can be done 
there, and the highest degree of excellence in printing and binding 
is reached whenever it is called for. It is run tmder very systematic 
methods. No work is done by the piece, and the average wage of 
employes is $3.20 a day. The electrotyping division of the office 
is the finest in this country, every late improvement in machines and 
facilities being quickly adopted, if they are found to be practicable. 
In each one pf the executive departments there is a branch of the 
main office, which is used to do all small and confidential work of the 
department. Important serial publications manufactured are the 
Index Catalogue of the library of the Surgeon-General's office, 
U. S. Army, and the official record of the Union and Confederate 
armies and navies in the War of the Rebellion. Other important 
publications are the census reports, the blue book, and the reports 
of the Smithsonian Institution, Geological Survey, and Bureau of 
Ethnology. *Much very handsome illustrated work is done. That 
the various publications may be easily accessible to the people the 



ffrmu and «aVu 

^ar ^ctcran^' Jurcau 
of information 



i^ /\ IVI r> it r\ IT O '^ ^^" want a Pension under the Old 
L/lJl lK/\UL^f or New Law, Back Pay, Bounty, or 
^ ^ an Increase of Pension, 

RALLY AROUND YOUR OLD COMRADES, 

BUTTS & PHILLIPS, 

(Who were with you at the front from 1861 to 1865) 

SOLICITORS OF CLAIMS, 

Lenman BIdg., No. 1425 New York Ave., WASHINGTON, D..C. 
Branch Office: 13 Willoughby Street, BROOKLYN, N. Y. 



FRANK A. BUTTS. 

{ORIGINATOR AND LATE CHIEF, ARMY AND NAVY SURVIVORS' DIVISION, U. S. PENSION BUREAU.) 
LATE MAJOR 47th N. Y. VET. VOLS., 2d BRIG., 2d DIV., 10th A. C 

HENRY A. PHILLIPS. 

(LATE CHIEF MIDDLE DIVISION U. S. PENSION BUREAU.) 
LATE SERGEANT CO. D, 47th N. Y. VET. VOLS., 2d BRIG., 2d DIV., 10th A. C. 



If your claim has been rejected, or if you have been 
dropped from the rolls, or reduced, write to us. We are 
right on the ground, and can give your case personal 
attention. Send for our special blank for record of 
military or naval service to be left with your family for 
future reference. 

Special attention given to widows', dependent fathers' 
and mothers', brothers' and sisters', and minors' claims. 

CORRESPONDENCE SOLICITED. 

Call and see us when you visit Washington. 



THE EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS. 91 

Public Printer issues montlily a catalogue of books that have been 
finished during the month, giving the price of each. It is estimated 
that an edition of 10,000 copies of a 2,000-page book can be pro- 
duced by the office in eight hours — type set, proof read, made up 
into pages, printed, folded, gathered, and covered. During the fiscal 
year ending June 30, 1895, the office used 4,547 tons of book, writing, 
plate, and ledger paper, and there were finished 1,787,473 volumes in 
cloth and leather bindings, and 1,182,955 pamphlets bound in paper, 
aside from the blank-book work used in all the department and pub- 
lic offices of the country. 

The Departinejit of Laboj', controlled by a commissioner, collects 
and publishes useful information on subjects connected with labor, 
promoting the material, social, intellectual, and moral prosperity 
of men and women who live by their daily earnings. It publishes an 
annual report, largely statistical. The office is in the National Safe 
Deposit Building at New York Avenue and Fifteenth Street. 

The Civil Service Commission makes and supervises all regula- 
tions and examinations respecting applicants for employment in the 
Government service in those classes under the civil service law. 
It has offices in the Concordia Building, Eighth and E streets. 

The service classified under the act embraces about 54,000 places, 
including the executive departments at Washington; the Depart- 
ment of Labor; the Civil Service Commission; the Fish Commission; 
thirty-three customs districts, in each of which there are twenty or 
more employes; 609 free-delivery post offices and the Railway Mail 
Service; the Indian School Service; the Weather Bureau- the Internal 
Revenue Service, and the Government Printing Office. 

The Inter-State Commerce G2;;zw/^j'/(^;z (Sun Building, No. 131 7 F 
Street) examines into the management of the business of all common 
carriers subject to the act of February 4, 1887, and has power and 
jurisdiction generally over Inter-State traffic. The Inter-Cotiti7iental 
Railway Commission has its office at No. 1429 New York Avenue. 

A Joiftt Commission of Congress to examine into the status of 
laws organizing the executive departments, and the Bureau of 
American Republics, whose purpose it is to promote trade, intelli- 
gence, and comity among all the American republics, have offices at 
No. 2 Jackson Place, at the southwest corner of Lafayette Square. 

The Venezuela BoitJidary Coimnission, engaged in investigating 
the disputed boundary between Venezuela and British Guiana, has 
offices in the Baltimore Sun Building, No. 131 7 F Street. 



VIII. 

FROM THE MONUMENT TO THE 
MUSEUMS. 



The Wasliing^toii Moimineiit. 

The dignity, symmetry, and towering height of Washington's 
character, as it now presents itself to the minds of his countrymen, 
are well exemplified in the majestic simplicity of his monument in 
Washington. This pure and glittering shaft, asking no aid from 
inscription or ornament, strikes up into heaven and leads the thought 
to a patriotism as spotless and a manhood as lofty as any American 
has attained to. It is the glory and grandeur of this superb monu- 
ment that it typifies and recalls not Washington the man, but Wash- 
ington the character. . It is really a monument to the American 
people in the name of their foremost representative. It is in 
itself a constantly beautiful object, intensified, unconsciously to the 
beholder, perhaps, by the symbolism and sentiment it involves. With 
every varying mood of the changing air and sky, or time of day, it 
assumes some new phase of interest to the eye. Now it is clear and 
firmagainst the blue — hard, sharp-edged, cold, near at hand; anon 
it withdraws and softens and seems to tremble in a lambent envel- 
ope of azure ether, or to swim in a golden mist as its shadow, like 
that of a mighty dial, marks the approach of sunset upon the green- 
sward that rolls eastward from its base. The most picturesque 
view of it, doubtless, is that from the east, where you may "com- 
pose " it in the distance of a picture, for which the trees and shrub- 
bery, winding roads and Norman towers, of the Smithsonian park 
form the most artistic of foregrounds. 

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FROM THE MONUMENT TO THE MUSEUMS. 93 

that he was enabled to indicate his own preference for this site, and 
was expressed in a congressional resolution in 1799, which contem- 
plated an equestrian statue. The death of Washington revived the 
matter, and a bill appropriating f 150,000 for a mausoleum passed 
both houses, but was mislaid and not signed at the close of the 
session. The next Congress was made up of Washington's political 
opponents, and his monument was no more heard of until an associa- 
tion was formed, headed by the President of the United States 
ex-ojfficw, which undertook to retrieve what it considered a national 
disgrace, and raised a large sum of money for the purpose. This 
site was obtained, the corner-stone was laid with impressive cere- 
monies on the 4th of July, 1848, and the work progressed until the 
shaft had reached a height of 150 feet, when the funds gave out. 
The coming of the Civil War turned men's attention elsewhere, and 
it was only revived by the wave of patriotism developed by the 
Centennial year, under the influence of which Congress agreed to 
finish the shaft. To Gen. T. L. Casey, Chief of Engineers, U. S. A., 
was intrusted the task of enlarging and strengthening the founda- 
tions — a most difficult piece of engineering which he accomplished with 
consummate skill. These foundations are described as constructed 
of a mass of solid blue rock, 146 feet square. "The base of the 
shaft is 55 feet square, and the lower walls are 15 feet thick. At the 
five-hundred feet elevation, where the pyramidal top begins, the 
walls are only 18 inches thick and about 35 feet square. The inside 
of the walls, as far as they were constructed before the work was 
undertaken by the Government in 1878 — 150 feet from the base— is 
of blue granite, not laid in courses. From this point to within a 
short distance of the beginning of the top or roof, the inside of the 
walls is of regular courses of granite, corresponding with the courses 
of marble on the outside. For the top marble is entirely used. The 
marble blocks were cut or 'dressed' in the most careful manner, and 
laid in courses of two feet by .experienced and skillful workmen. 
There is no 'filling' or 'backing' between the granite and marble 
blocks, but they are all closely joined, the work being declared 'the 
best piece of masonry in the world.' By a plumb-line suspended 
from the top of the monument inside, not three-eighths of an inch 
deflection has been noticed. . . The keystone that binds the 
interior ribs of stone that support the marble facing of the pyramidal 
cap of the monument, weighs nearly five tons. It is 4 feet 6 
inches high, and 3 feet 6 inches square at the top. . . . On 
the 6th day of December, 1884, the capstone, which completed the 
shaft, was set. The capstone is 5 feet 1^2. inches in height, and 
its base is somewhat more than 3 feet square. At its cap, or peak, it 
is five inches in diametei . On the cap was placed a tip or point of 
aluminum, a composition metal w^hich resembles polished silver, 
and which was selected because of its lightness and freedom from 
oxidation, and because it will alwa^-s remain bright." 

The original design, prepared by Robert Mills, contemplated a 
shaft of 600 feet in height, rising froni a colonnaded circular 
memorial hall, which was to contain statues of the nation's worthies 



94 HANDY GUIDE TO WASHINGTON: 

and paintings of great scenes in its history, "while the crypt beneath 
would serve as a burial place for those whom the people should 
especially honor." This plan has been definitely abandoned. 

The monument is open to visitors from g.oo a. m. to 6.00 p. m, in the 
summer, and 5.30 p. m. in winter, with an intermission of an hour at 
noon. A staircase of 900 steps winds its way to the top, around an 
interior shaft of iron pillars, in which the elevator runs ; few people 
walk up, but-many descend that way, in order to examine more 
carefully the inscribed memorial blocks which are let into the interior 
wall at various places. Within the shaft formed by the interior iron 
framework runs an elevator, making a trip every half hour, and 
carrying, if need be, thirty persons. As this elevator and its ropes are 
of unusual strength, and were severely tested by use in elevating the 
stone required for the upper courses as the s.ructure progressed, its 
safety need not be suspected. The elevator is lighted by electricity 
and carries a telephone. Seven minutes are required for the 
ascent of 500 feet ; and one can see, as it passes, all the inscriptions 
and carvings sufficiently well to satisfy the curiosity of most persons, 
as none of these memorials have any artistic excellence. Several 
not embedded in the walls are shown in the National Museum. An 
officer in charge of the floor marshals visitors into the elevator, 
and another cares for the observatory floor at the top ; but no fees 
whatever are required or expected. 

The View from the eight small windows, which open through the 
pyramidon, or sloping summit of the obelisk, 517 feet above the 
ground, includes a circle of level country having a radius of from 
fifteen to twenty miles, and southwest extends still farther, for in clear 
weather the Blue Ridge is well defined in that direction. The 
Potomac is in sight from up near Chain Bridge down to far below 
Mount Vernon ; and the whole district lies unrolled beneath you 
like a map. To climb the Washington Monument is, therefore, an 
excellent method of beginning an intelligent survey of the capital, 
and of " getting one's bearings." 

Looking first towiij'd the north, the most compact part of the 
city is surveyed. At the very foot of the monument are the artificial 
Carp Ponds, so called because, years ago, the Fisheries Commission 
propagated European carp for distribution there. Beyond, in the 
center-foreground, are the grounds of the Executive Mansion, rising 
in a gentle slope to the White House. On its left stands the State, 
War, and Navy Building ; and to the left of that (and nearer) is the 



FROM THE MONUMENT TO THE MUSEUMS. 95 

marble front of the new Corcoran Art Gallery, on Seventeenth 
Street (p. 134), and beyond that is seen the old Octagon House, 
on a straight line with the Naval Observatory, conspicuous in white 
paint and yellow domes, three miles away amid the green hills 
beyond Georgetown. -Nearer the water than any of these is a large 
yellow house among the trees, and beside what looks like a ball-field 
— the Van Ness mansion. 

All that part of Washington was among the earliest to be built 
up, and among the first to fall into disrepute, mainly because of an 
unhealthiness which modern drainage has done away with, so that 
the prejudice is disappearing. That yellow house — the Vajt Ah^ss 
Mansion — now the field club-house of the Columbia Athletic Club 
(p. 138), was one of the first built in Washington. Close by it stood 
the humble cabin of ''David Burns — a cantankerous old Scot who 
owned a great many acres there, and would not come to terms with 
the District Commissioners until he was compelled to. He was made 
rich by the growth of the young city, and his only daughter was a 
very pretty girl named Marcia, wdio was wooed and won by a New 
York Congressman named John P. Van Ness. They married and 
after a while built this fine house, of which Latrobe was the architect, 
and surrounded it by a fine park, where Davie Burns' old cottage 
stood as it always had, and remained until it tumbled down in 1894. 
" In luxuriousness of appointments it had no equal in this country at 
the time it was built. It w^as the first house in which cold and hot 
water was carried to all the floors. The wine vaults were very 
extensive. It was in them that the conspirators intended to hide 
President Lincoln in 1865, when it was their purpose to kidnap 
instead of assassinate him. The drawing rooms were adorned with 
mantels of Italian marble by Thorwaldsen. ... In the cottage silk- 
worms were kept for some time, and from their cocoons a bridal 
dress was made for one of the daughters of John Tayloe." Mrs. Van 
Ness became so prominent in later life as a philanthropist that when 
she died she received a public funeral — the first and only woman 
ever so honored in Washington. 

The " Octagon House'" is another old and famous mansion, still 
in good preservation, though empty. It was begun in 1798 by Col. 
John Tayloe, the richest Virginian of his day (it is said that the gar- 
den still retains traces of " nigger-auction " blocks), and during the 
first quarter of this century the Octagon was ' ' the center of all that 
was most brilliant and refined in unofficial society. " The burning of 
the White House, in 1814, compelled President Madison to seek another 
home until it could be repaired, and he rented this one as his choice 
among several offered to him. " It was worthy of such occupants," 
remarks Mr. Hamlin in Scribner's Magazine for October, 1893: 
"The circular hall, marble-tiled, was heated by two picturesque 
stoves placed in small recesses in the wall. Another hall, beyond, 
opened into a large and lovely garden surrounded by a high , brick 
wall after the English fashion. To the right was a handsome draw- 



96 HANDY GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

mg room with a fine mantel still well preserved. To the left was the 
dining room, of equal size and beauty. A circular room over the hall, 
with windows to the lioor and a handsome fireplace, was President 
Madison's office. Here, on February i8, 1818, he signed the procla- 
mation of the Treaty of Ghent, formally closing the war with 
England." 

Another old house near there (southeast corner Twenty-first and 
F streets), built in 1802, is memorable as a center of entertainments, 
where every President from the elder Adams to Franklin Pierce has 
been seen. It was the home for half a century of Alfred Pleasanton, 
an official who first became prominent as private secretary to James 
Monroe, when he was Madison's Secretary of State. When the 
British raided Washington and the cabinet fled, Pleasanton stayed 
behind to save what he could of the records of the State Depart- 
ment, and succeeded in sending away twenty-two wagon loads of 
archives, including invaluable treaties, which wfere stored in a barn 
at Leesburg, Va. , for several weeks. At the last moment he tore from 
their frames, where they hung in Mr. Monroe's office, the original 
Declaration of Independence (p. 78) and Washington's first commis- 
sion. A son of this courageous official, born in this house, was Maj.- 
Gen. Alfred Pleasanton, Jr., one of the most brilliant Union cavalr}- 
leaders in the Civil War, who still lives in this city, but as a recluse. 

Connecticut Avenue is the street leading from the White House 
straight northwest to the boundary, where it breaks into the fashion- 
able suburban parks on Meridian Hill, at the left of which are the 
wooded vales of Rock Creek, near which the noble Anglican Cathedral 
is to arise. At the right of the White House is the Treasury, here 
seen to inclose two great courts. The lines of Seventeenth, Sixteenth, 
Fifteenth streets, and of Vermont Avenue, lead the eye across the 
most solid and fashionable northwest quarter of the city to the more 
thinly settled hill-districts, where are conspicuous the square tower of 
the Soldiers' Home (4^ miles), the lofty buildings of Howard Univer- 
sity, and, farther to the right and more distant, the halls of the Catho- 
lic University. For an account of these streets, see Chapter IX. 

The eastern outlook carries the picture around to the right, and 
embraces the valley of the Anacostia River, or eastern branch of the 
Potomac. Here the conspicuous object is the Capitol, one-and-a-half 
miles distant, whose true proportions and supreme size can now be 
well understood. Over its right wing appears the grand new Con- 
gressional Library, its gilt dome flashing back the rays of the sun, 
and setting it out sharply against the Maryland hills. Between the 
monument and the Capitol stretches the green Mall, with the grounds 
and buildings of the Agricultural Department nearest the observer; 
then the castellated towers of the Smithsonian, the low breadth of the 



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FROM THE MONUMENT TO THE MUSEUMS. 97 

National Museum, the red, shapeless pile of the Army Medical 
Museum, and the small Fisheries building, leading the eye as far as 
Sixth Street, beyond which are open parks. Somewhat to the right, 
the course of the Pennsylvania Railroad, out Virginia Avenue, is 
seen as far as Garfield Park, where it disappears under the tunnel. 
This leads the eye to the broad current of the Anacostia, which can 
be overlooked as far up as the Navy Yard, and downward past the 
bridge to Anacostia, to where it joins the Potomac at Greenleaf's 
Point. The military barracks there (p. 141) can be seen; and this 
side of it, along the harbor branch of the Potomac, are the steamboat 
wharves. 

The view soiithwiwd is straight down the Potomac, far beyond 
the spires of Alexandria, six miles in an air line, to where it bends 
out of view around Cedar Point. Long Bridge, which has been built 
sixty years or more, is in the immediate foreground, and the railways 
leading to it can be traced. To the right, the eye sweeps over a wide 
area of the red Virginia hills, thickly crowned during the Civil War 
with fortifications, the sites of some of which may be discovered by 
the knowing, and covers the disastrous fields of Manassas off to the 
right on the level blue horizon. 

The western vieta continues this landscape of Virginia, and 
includes about three miles of the Potomac above Long Bridge. Close 
beneath the eye are the old and scattered houses of the southwest 
quarter, with the Van Ness homestead, and the hill crowned by the 
old Naval Observatory on ground where Washington meant to place 
his national university. Above that the current of the river is 
broken by Analostan, or Mason's Island, opposite the mouth of Rock 
Creek, beyond which are the crowded hilly streets of Georgetown, 
and the Aqueduct bridge, leading to Roslyn, on the southern bank. 
Then come the high banks which narrow and hide the river, and 
bear upon their crest the flashing basin of the distributing reservoir. 
Beyond it, over the city of Georgetown, are the beautiful wooded 
heights about Woodley, where President Cleveland had his summer 
home, and thousands of charming suburban houses are building. On 
the Virginia side of the river, the Arlington mansion appears some- 
what at the left, and three miles distant; more in front, and nearer, 
the National Cemetery embowered in trees; and behind it, the clus- 
tered quarters of Fort Myer (p. 147). The distance is a rolling, semi- 
wooded country, thickly sown with farms, hamlets, and villages, 
among which Fall's Church is alone conspicuous, and fading away 



98 HANDY GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

to a high level horizon; but when the air is clear, the eye can see and 
rejoice in the faint but distinct outlines of the turquoise-tinted Blue 
Ridge, far away in the southwest. 

Some Scientific Departments. 

The public institutions along the south side of The Mall, dealing in 
a large part of the scientific work of the nation, contain more to interest 
the stranger in Washington than any other, except the Capitol itself. 
They include the "Washington Monument, and there are good 
reasons for advising that the ascent of this should be the very first 
thing done by the visitor; the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, the 
Department of Agriculture, the National and Army Medical museums 
in the Smithsonian grounds, and the Fisheries Commission. It is a 
long day's task to make a satisfactory tour of these buildings; and the 
National Museum alone has material for unlimited time and study m 
many paths of knowledge. Let us begin with 

The Bureau of Engraving and Printing. — This is the name given 
to the Government's factory for designing, engraving, and printing 
its bonds, certificates, checks, notes, revenue and postage stamps, and 
many other official papers. It is under control of the, Treasury 
Department, and occupies a handsome brick building on Fourteenth 
Street, S. W., within five minutes' walk of the Washington Monu- 
ment. This is three stories high, 220 feet long by 135 feet wide, and 
was built in 1878 at a cost of $300,000. Visitors are received from ten 
to two o'clock, and wait in the reception room until an attendant (several 
women are assigned to this duty) is ready to conduct a party over 
the building, which is simply a crowded factory of high-class tech- 
nical work, the products of which have received the highest encomi- 
ums at several w^orld's fairs in Europe as well as in America. 

All of the engraving is done upon steel, the surface of which is 
soft enough to yield readily to the artist's graver. The engraved 
plate is then hardened, laid in a press, and a cylinder of soft steel is 
rolled across it, under sufficient pressure to indent its surface with an 
exact (reversed) duplicate of the original engraving. This cylinder 
(examples of which are exhibited) is now itself hardened, and then 
rolled, under great pressure,--over a flat plate of soft steel, which in 
turn receives an imprint of the engraved surface of the roller. This 
last plate, which is, of course, an exact reproduction of the original 
engraving, is then hardened and used to print from, while the 
original engraving is stored away in the vault. All of the engraving 
is done by hand, except the designs of intricate circles and curving 
endless lines, known as engine-turning, which adorns the borders of 



FROM THE MONUMENT TO THE MUSEUMS. 99 

bonds, and the faces of notes, etc., and which quite defies imitation. 
This is the work of an expensive and complicated machine. 

" The printing division," to quote Evans, who alludes to the mak- 
ing of notes — paper money — ' ' occupies the third floor and employs 
about five hundred persons. Six hundred printed sheets is the daily 
task allotted to each pressman, and as all imperfect sheets are 
rejected by the examiners and a record made of the number and 
pressman, much defective work will result in a speedy dismissal from 
the service. Steam power is not used for the presses, as it is found 
that the delicate nature of the work and the care required to obtain 
perfect impressions requires hand labor. Each pressman has a 
woman to assist him, her work being to place the sheet on the press 
and remove it when printed. After each impression the plate must 
be carefully cleaned and polished with whiting, then inked, and 
wiped to remove the superfluous ink. As the hand is the best 
medium that can be used for wiping the plate, the necessity of a 
clean-handed assistant to handle the paper is obvious. When they 
have received the first impression the sheets are carefully dried, and 
after some days are given to another set of pressmen, who print the 
other side. No one person is allowed to attend to more than one 
operation. . . . The workmen are separated from the public by a high 
wire screen, and are under the constant surveillance of watchmen 
stationed in all the rooms. Finally, before an^^one leaves the build- 
ing at the close of work, every printed sheet and piece of paper, and 
every plate and die must be accounted for," 

Just east of this bureau, occupying large grounds between Four- 
teenth and Twelfth streets, S. W., and reached from Pennsylvania 
Avenue by street-cars on both those streets, and from the Capitol by 
the Belt Line along Maryland Avenue and B Street, S. W., is the 
headquarters of 

The Department of Agriculture. — This popular department grew 
out of the special interest which early patent commissioners took in 
agricultural machinery, improvements, and the collection and distri- 
bution of seeds — a function that formed a large part of its work 
until 1895. It was gradually separated from, the Patent Office work, 
erected into a commissionership, and finally (1889) was given the 
rank of an executive department, the Secretary of Agriculture being 
the last-added cabinet officer. His office is in the fine building west 
of the Smithsonian grounds, and he has the help of an assistant sec- 
retary, to whom has been assigned the direction of the great amount 
of scientific work done, including the experiment stations and the 
studies of fibers, irrigation, and the department museum. 

The scope of the work is now very extended, including the study 
of diseases of live stock, and the control of the in.spection of import 
and export animals, cattle transportation, and meat ; a bureau of 



100 HANDY GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

statistics of crops, live stock, etc., at home and abroad; scientific 
investigations in forestry, botany, fruit culture, cultivation of textile 
plants, and diseases of trees, grains, vegetables, and plants ; studies 
of the injurious or beneficial relations to agriculture of insects, birds, 
and wild quadrupeds ; investigations as to roads and methods of 
irrigation ; chemical and microscopical laboratories, and a great num- 
ber of experiment stations, correspondents, and observers in various 
parts of this and other countries. The results of all these investiga- 
tions and experiments are liberally published, and in spite of a sneer 
now and then the people are satisfied that the $3,300,000 or so expend- 
ed annually by this department is a wise and profitable outlay. 

There is a museum in the building exhibiting excellent wax models 
of fruits, nuts, and natural foods of various kinds; and an especially 
full and interesting display of models showing the damage wrought 
by many kinds of insects injurious to trees and plants; also an 
attractive and instructive exhibit comprising a number of groups of 
mounted birds, ground-squirrels, gophers, and other mammals, in 
natural surroundings, each representing a chapter in the life history 
of the animal and showing its relation to agriculture. These were 
exhibited at the World's Columbian Exposition, at Chicago, in 
1893, and excited admiration. The library and herbarium will 
interest botanists. The ordinary visitor, however, will prefer to 
remain out of doors, where years ago the care of Mr. Saunders made 
these grounds the best cultivated part of The Mall, and a practical 
example of ornamental gardening. The extensive g7'eeiihouses 
must also be visited; all are open at all reasonable hours and the 
palm-house is a particularly delightful place in a stormy winter's day. 
A tower in the garden, composed of slabs with their foot-thick bark 
from one of the giant trees (sequoia; of California, should not be 
neglected, for it represents the exact size of the huge tree, "Gen- 
eral Noble," from which the pieces were cut. 

One important branch of the department— namely, the Weather 
Bureau— is domiciled at the corner of M and Twenty-fourth streets. 
There may be seen the delicate instruments by which the changes of 
meteorological conditions are recorded, and the method of forecasting 
the weather for the ensuing forty-eight hours, which is based upon 
reports of local conditions telegraphed each night and morning from 
the observers in all parts of North America, whereupon orders to 
display appropriate signals are telegraphed to each office. 

The system grew up from the experiments of Gen. A. G. Myer, 



t.. 







.i.-^teMJt ^i!im^»^.r....~.*m^*^^m"' 



FROM THE MONUMENT TO THE MUSEUMS. 101 

Chief Signal-Officer, U. S. A. (p. 147), who invented the present sys- 
tem and conducted it under the authority of Congress (1870) as a part 
of the signal service of the army. Generals Hazen and A. W. Gree- 
ly, of Arctic fame, succeeded him and perfected the service, but in 
1 89 1 it was transferred to the Department of Agriculture and placed 
in charge of a civilian "chief" appointed by the President. In addi- 
tion to the forecasting of storms, etc., the bureau has in hand the 
gauging and reporting of rivers; the maintenance and operation of 
seacoast telegraph lines, and the collection and transmission of marine 
intelligence for the benefit of commerce and navigation; the reporting 
of temperature afid rainfall conditions for the cotton interests, and a 
large amount of scientific study in respect to meteorology. 

The Smithsonian Institution and National Museum are reached 
by crossing Twelfth Street, S. W., and entering the spacious park. 
Near the gate stands a life-like statue of Joseph Henry, the first 
secretary of the Institution. It is of bronze, after a model by W. W. 
Story, and was erected by the regents in 1884. 

The Smithsoiiiaii Instittctio7i was constituted by an act of Con- 
gress to administer the bequest of his fortune made to the United 
States by James Smithson, a younger son of the English Duke of 
Northumberland, and a man of science, who died in 1829. In 1838 
the legacy became available and was brought over in gold sover- 
eigns, which were recoined into American money, yielding $508,- 
318.46. The language of this bequest was : 

I bequeath the whole of my property to the United States of America to 
found at Washington, under the name of the .Smithsonian Institution, an estab- 
lishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men. 

The acceptance of this trust is the only action of the kind ever 
taken by the nation, and the institution stands in a peculiar relation 
to the Government. It is composed of the President of the United 
States and the members of his cabinet, ex-ojfficio, a chancellor who is 
elected, and a secretary, who is the active administrator of its affairs. 
The business of the institution is managed by a board of regents, 
composed of the Vice-President and the Chief Justice of the United 
States, three Senators, three members of the House of Representa- 
tives, and six other eminent persons nominated by a joint resolution 
of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The immediate and 
primary object of the Smithsonian Institution, as above constituted, 
is to administer the fund, which has now increased to nearly 
$1,000,000, and in doing so it promotes the object of its founder thus: 

(i) In the increase of knowledge by original investigation and 
study, either in science or literature. (2) In the diffusion of this 
knowledge by publication everywhere, and especially by promoting 
an interchange of thought among those prominent in learning among 
all nations, through its correspondents. These embrace institutions 
or societies conspicuous in art, science, or literature throughout the 
world. Its publications are in three principal issues, namely : The 



102 HANDY GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

" Contributions to Knowledge," the " Miscellaneous Collections," 
and the "Annual Report." Numerous works are published annually 
by it, under one of these forms, and distributed to its principal cor- 
respondents. 

The original funds deposited in the United States Treasury at 6 
per cent interest have been increased by later bequests. One such 
constitutes "The Hodgkins fund," and which is given for the especial 
purpose of " The increase and diffusion of more exact knowledge in 
regard to the nature and properties of atmospheric air in connection 
with the welfare of man "; this fund is also deposited in the Treasury 
of the United States. Other donations have been received and are 
administered for other specific purposes, the latest being a legacy 
from the late R, S. Avery of Washington, for special investigations 
in magnetism and electricity. 

There was early begun a system of international exchanges of 
correspondence and publications, which forms a sort of clearing 
house for the scientific world in its dealings with Americans ; and 
there is no civilized country or people on the globe where the institu- 
tion is not represented by its correspondents, who now number about 
24,000. The immediate benefit to the institution itself has been 
in enabling it to build up a great scientific librar5^ now numbering 
300,000 titles and mainly deposited in the Library of Congress. 

The Sviithsoiiian B nil ding, of Seneca brownstone, was planned 
by James Renwick, the architect whose best known work, perhaps, 
is St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York. It was completed in 1855. 
" Features selected from the Gothic and Romanesque styles are com- 
bined in its architecture, but its exterior, owing chiefly to the irregu- 
lar sky line, is very picturesque and pleasing." For the purposes of 
exhibition of specimens and laboratory work, however, the building 
is badly lighted, wasteful of space, and otherwise unsuitable. The 
eastern wing was for many years the home of Prof. Joseph Henry, 
the first secretary; but is now devoted to the offices of administration. 

The Smithsonian Institution has under its charge, but not at the 
expense of its own funds, certain bureaus which are sustained by 
annual appropriations. These are : The United States National 
Museum, the Bureau of International Exchanges, the Bureau of 
Ethnology, the National Zoological Park (p. 153), and the Astrophysi- 
cal Observatory. Of the National Museum and the Zoological Park, 
more extended notice will be found elsewhere. The Bt(?'eau of 
Et /mo logy is a branch of the work, under the direction of Maj. J. W. 
Powell, which studies the ethnology, history, languages, and customs 
of the American Indians, and publishes the results in annual reports 
and occasional bulletins. It has been the means of collecting a vast 
amount of important and interesting material illustrative of the 



FROM THE MONUMENT TO THE MUSEUMS. 103 

primitive natives of this continent ; and all this is deposited in the 
National Museum. The offices of this bureau are at 1330 F Street. 

The Astrophysical Observatory dates from 1891, and is under 
the personal direction of Prof. S. P. Langley, now the secretary of 
the Smithsonian Institution. Its purpose is to study how the heaven- 
ly bodies, and mainly the sun, affect the earth and man's wants on 
it; "how the sun's heat is distributed, and how, in fact, it affects 
not only the seasons and the farmers' crops but the whole system of 
living things on the earth," as unquestionably it does to a notable 
degree. This is the science of astrophysics; and its principal instru- 
ment thus far has been the spectroscope. 

The National Museum. — In no single respect, perhaps, has the 
progress of the American capital been more striking than in the 
history of the National Museum. Originating in a quantity of 
"curiosities" which had been given to the United States by foreign 
powers, or sent home by consuls and naval officers, old visitors 
to Washington remember it as a heterogeneous cabinet in the Patent 
Office (p. 87). In 1846 a step was taken toward something coherent 
and creditable, by an act of Congress establishing a National Muse- 
um, following the precedent of a dozen or more other nations ; but 
this intention took effect very slowly, though various exploring 
expeditions and embassies largely increased the bulk of the collec- 
tions, which, by and by, were trundled over to the Smithsonian 
building. 

The name National Museum, however, was rarely heard. Every- 
thing was addressed to the Smithsonian, and in popular parlance 
the collectors and naturalists were all " Smithsonian men." They 
went westward and northward and southward, and came back with 
carloads of Indian relics and modern implements of savagery, skins, 
shells, insects, minerals, fossils, skeletons, alcoholic preparations, 
herbaria, and note books — the last crammed with novel information. 
It was natural, therefore, that the Smithsonian regents should be 
made custodians of the national collections, and that the appropria- 
tions annually made by Congress for the support of the museum 
should be administered by them. Prof. Spencer F. Baird, who 
became secretary upon the death of Prof. Joseph Henry, took a most 
active interest in the development of the museum ; and he saw in the 
Centennial Exhibition a great opportunity for it. From the Govern- 
ment exhibit, which he was the means of making, and which was so 
much admired by everybody at Philadelphia, in 1876, dates the real 
starting point of the museum, except in zoology. The creditable 
showing then made, and clever persuasion on the part of its officers, 
secured to our collections the gift of nearly all the government 
exhibits of other countries, and gave us an enormous mass of novel 



104 HANDY GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

and most precious objects, representing resources and humanity- 
"from China to Peru." The work of the U. S. Fish Commission 
(greatly stimulated at that time) also produced large accessions, until 
the previously uneven zoological collection became balanced. This 
vast influx of material had been anticipated by the formulation of a 
scheme which proposed to make a museum that should comprehend 
all departments of human progress— mental, industrial, and artistic ; 
and Congress was so much impressed that it gave $250,000 for the 
construction of the present fire-proof building, which was nearly 
enough completed in the spring of 1881 to serve as the ball-room at 
the inauguration of President Garfield. This building stands with 
its northwestern corner almost touching the old Smithsonian, but is 
as different from that as a terrapin from a woodcock. The Norman 
architecture in brownstone of the older structure is strongly con- 
trasted in the low, tent-like expanse of red, blue, and cream-colored 
bricks, white stone, and glass of its new neighbor. The spacious 
halls, which surround the rotunda in the form of a Greek cross with 
its corners filled in, are floored with vari-colored marble and slate, 
are divided only by lines of arches and low partitions of glass cases, 
and are open above to the iron-work of the lofty roof. All is light, 
airy, and graceful. 

The main entrance is in the north front, and is surmounted by 
" an allegorical group of statuary, by C. Buberl of New York, repre- 
senting Columbia as the Patron of Science and Industry." Entering, 
you find yourself at once in the North Hall, with the statuary, plants, 
and fountain of the rotunda, making a pleasing picture in the dis- 
tance. This hall is crowded with cases containing personal relics of 
great men, and other historical objects. 

The " relics " include a large quantity of furniture, apparel, instru- 
ments, table-ware, documents, etc., which belonged to Washington ; 
many of them were taken from Arlington (p. 145), while many others 
were purchased, in 1S78, from the heirs of his favorite (adopted) daugh- 
ter, Nelly Custis, who became Mrs. Lewis and lived until 1852. Arti- 
cles that once belonged to Jefferson, Jackson, Franklin (especially his 
own hand printing press), and several other statesmen or comman- 
ders of note ; presents, medals, etc., given to naval officers, envoys, 
and other representatives of the Government, by foreign rulers, are 
shown in great numbers ; but all are well labeled and need here 
neither cataloguing nor description. A most brilliant and valuable 
cabinet is the collection of swords, presents, and testimonials of 
various kinds given to General Grant during the \var and in the 
course of his trip around the world. A large display of pottery and 
porcelain, illustrating its manufacture and characteristics, in China, 
JatDan, France (Sevres), England, North America, and elsewhere, 
occupies many cases; also a valuable series of lacquers. 

At the right of this hall is the Lecture Room, beyond which, in 
the northwest corner of the building, are the offices of the Director, 



FROM THE MONUMENT TO THE MUSEUMS. 105 

Dr. G. Brown Goode, and the library. The lecture room is sur- 
rounded by models representing the home life of the American 
Indians, and upon its walls are hung the Catlin Gallery of Indian 
paintings, made by George Catlin on the Upper Missouri plains 
between 1832 and 1840. 

On the left of the entrance hall is a room devoted to the various 
implements used in the fisheries, and beyond that an apartment 
where a great number and variety of models of boats and vessels, 
especially those used in the fisheries of all parts of the world, may be 
examined. 

Passing on into the Rotunda, the plaster model of Crawford's 
" Liberty," surmounting the dome of the Capitol, towers above the 
fountain-basin, and is surrounded by several other models of statues, 
the bronze or marble copies of which ornament the parks and build- 
ings of New York, Boston, etc. All these are fully labeled. The 
two great Haviland memorial vases here, whose value is estimated 
at $16,000, were presented by the great pottery firm of Haviland, in 
Limoges, France, and are the work of the artists Bracquemond and 
Delaplanche. One is entitled " 1776," and the other " 1876," and they 
are designed to be illustrative of the struggles through which this 
Republic has passed into prosperity. 

Beyond the rotunda are halls devoted to mammals, mounted by 
scientific taxidermists in a remarkably lifelike manner ; to skele- 
tons of existing and extinct animals ; and to geological specimens, 
minerals, ores, the building stones of the Union and representative 
fossils — a department in which the museum is extremely rich, as it 
is the depository of the United States Geological Survey. 

In the middle halls of the building are an extraordinary number 
of articles — with thousands more hidden away in store-rooms for 
lack of space to exhibit them — of the industrial arts of the world, and 
the life of its inhabitants in every climate, state of civilization, and 
condition of advancement. One hall is devoted wholly, for example, 
to costumes and textile fabrics of every sort. The lay figures wearing 
Hindoo, Persian, Japanese, American Indian and other costumes, were 
largely made for exhibition at the Columbian Exposition in Chicago. 
Where actual costumes are not available, figurines wearing a minia- 
ture of the native dress, casts of statuettes, and pictures are used to 
increase the range of illustration. The examples of the home life 
and arts of the Eskimo, among American savages, and of the Japanese, 
among foreign peoples, are particularly numerous and complete. Par- 



106 HANDY GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

ticular attention is called here to the series of fabrics, especially bask- 
ets, made from rushes, grass, split roots and the like, which is exceed- 
ingly instructive and beautiful. In another hall the arts, architecture, 
machinery, weapons, navigation, agricultural implements, tools, musi- 
cal instruments, etc., of the world are illustrated. Pottery forms 
a large and richly furnished department, ranging from rude wares 
taken from prehistoric graves to the finest product of Japan, China, 
India, England, and France. No other museum in the world has so 
large and complete a series illustrating the native American pottery; 
and those interested in the ceramic arts will pause a long time over 
the work of the Pueblo Indians of the Southwest. It would be quite 
impossible to mention in detail one in a hundred of the objects of 
artistic, historic, and scientific value in this overflowing museum; and 
equally useless to attempt to guide the visitor to their place, since the 
cases are continually being moved about to make room for important 
accessions. 

A considerable portion of the collections, indeed, remain in the 
old Smithsonian building and should not be neglected; they are open 
to the public from 9 to 4 o'clock. The halls on the ground floor 
there contain a splendid series of birds, the ornithological collections 
here being among the most extended and useful in the world. Colored 
prints from Audubon's original copper-plates hang upon the walls. 
A beautiful display of sea shells is another feature here, this being a 
sample of the conchological treasures of the museum, which include 
the most historic, typical, and valuable of American collections, con- 
taining many unique specimens and the representatives of hundreds 
of species first described from this material. The same remark would 
apply, however, to every other branch of zoology as represented in 
the National Museum. Some cases of plaster images of reptiles and 
fishes, cast from specimens frozen immediately after death and 
colored from nature, will call for examination and be pronounced, no 
doubt, far more lifelike than any method of preserving the skins of 
these scaly animals. The adjoining hall, at the west end, is filled 
with an extensive and very attractive display (highly instructive to 
artists as well as naturalists) of the invertebrate marine life of both 
the fresh waters and of the seas adjacent to the United States — 
sponges, corals, starfishes and other echinoderms, mollusks in wide 
and beautiful variety, crabs and their kin, and many other preservable 
representatives of the humbler inhabitants of the rivers and ocean. 

The upper floor is a single lofty hall filled to overflowing with 



FROM THE MONUMENT TO THE MUSEUMS. 107 

collectiojis in anthropology, the handiwork of primitive and savage 
races of mankind, illustrating the development, art, and social econ- 
omy of uncivilized mankind, especially during the prehistoric stone 
age. The models and paintings of Arizona cliff-dwellings ought 
especially to be noticed. In the vestibule below are full-sized plaster 
models of the great circular calendar-stone of the Mexicans, and of 
the prehistoric Maya hieroglyphs from ruined buildings now over- 
grown by the forests of Yucatan. 

The Army Medical Museum occupies the handsome brick building 
in the southeast corner of the Smithsonian grounds, next to Seventh 
Street. This institution grew up after the war, out of the work of the 
Surgeon-General's office, and contains a great museum illustrating 
not only all the means and methods of military surgery, but all the 
diseases and casualties of war. This is a gruesome array of pre- 
served flesh and bones, affected by wounds or disease; or wax or 
plaster models of the effects of wounds or disease, which the average 
visitor could contemplate only with horror and dismay. This museum 
nevertheless is of the greatest interest and value to the medical and 
surgical profession, and comprises some 25,000 specimens. In the 
anatomical section there is a very large collection of human crania, 
] and about 1,500 skeletons of American mammals. In the miscel- 
I laneous sections are the latest appliances for the treatment of diseases, 
all sorts of surgical instruments, and models of ambulances, hospitals, 
j etc. The Library is more pleasing and of even more wonderful value, 
being the most complete collection of medical and surgical literature 
\ in the world, surpassing that of the British Museum. Not the least 
j admirable part of it is the vast catalogue, which employed a staff of 
experts and printers a score of years, and is not yet quite completed; 
and which amounts to a bibliography of everything, large or small, 
valuable or worthless, that has ever been printed in any language on 
medical and surgical topics. 

The United States Fish Commission is the last place to be visited 
on this side of The Mall. It occupies the old ante-bellum arsenal on 
Sixth Street, from which that part of the park between Sixth and 
Seventh streets derives its name, Armory Square. Here, on the 
basement floor, can be seen various aquaria filled with growing plants 
I and inhabited by fishes, rare and common, and by quaint and pretty 
swimming and creeping things that dwell in the rivers and sea. The 
apparatus involved in various forms of fish-hatching can be examined, 
and perhaps the process may be watched in a series of tanks which 



108 HANDY GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

is often so employed. If it should happen that one of the railway 
cars, in which young fish are carried about the country for planting 
in inland waters, is standing in the yard, it would be worth the 
trouble to look at its arrangements. The upper floor of this building 
is devoted to the offices of the Fish Commissioner and his assistants. 



IX. 

HISTORIC AND PICTURESQUE 
WASHINGTON. 



Prominent Streets, Squares, and Residences. 

The only residence of the President of the United States, in 
, Washington , is the Executive Mansion; but that is rather more 
I uncomfortable than the average Washington house in midsummer, 
land all the later Presidents have been accustomed to seek a country 
jhome during hot weather. President Lincoln used to live in a cot- 
tage at the Soldiers' Home; President Grant spent one summer in 
(the same house, and President Hayes occupied it every summer dur- 
|ing his term. During his first term President Cleveland purchased a 
(Suburban home near Georgetown (p. 159), which he subsequently 
Isold ; but during his second term he rented and occupied another 
^country house, " Woodley," in the same locality, and spent as much 
'of his time there as he could. 

Vice-President Stevenson lives at the Normandie Hotel. 

The Secretary of State lives at No. 1640 Rhode Island Avenue ; 
the Secretary of the Treasury in his own house, No. 1426 K Street, 
and the Secretary of War at No. 1607 H Street. The Attorney-Gen- 
jCral lives at No. 1329 K Street ; the Postmaster-General at No. 1741 
\Q Street ; the Secretary of the Navy at No. 1925 F Street ; the Sec- 
retary of the Interior at No. 1623 K Street, and the Secretary of 
Agriculture at The Portland. 

Mr. Chief Justice Fuller resides at No. 1800 Massachusetts Ave- 
jQue, Mr. Justice Field at No. 21 First Street, N. E. (p. 56), Mr. Justice 
Harlan on Meridian Hill, Mr. Justice Gray at No. 1601 I Street, Mr. 
Justice Brewer at No. 141 2 Massachusetts Avenue, Mr. Justice Brown 
at No. 1720 Sixteenth Street, Mr. Justice Shiras at No. 1515 Massa- 
11 (109) 



110 HANDY GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

chusetts Avenue, Mr. Justice White at No. 1717 Rhode Island Ave- 
nue, and Mr. Justice Peckham at The Arlington. 

Lafayette Square was the name selected by Washington himself 
for the square in front of the Executive Mansion, for which he fore- 
saw great possibilities ; but it remained a bare parade ground, with 
an oval race course at its west end, until after the disastrous days of 
1814. Then, when the White House had been rehabilitated, a begin- 
ning was made by President Jefferson, who cut off the ends down to 
the present limits (Madison Place and Jackson Place), and caused the 
trees to be planted. No doubt he had a voice in placing there, ir 
1816, St. John's — the quaint Episcopal church on the northern sic^ 
— the first building on the square. Madison, certainly, was greati) 
interested in it, and it became a sort of court church, for all the 
Presidents attended w^orship there, as a matter of course, down to 
Lincoln's time, and President Arthur since. Its interior is very inter- 
esting. 

Lafayette Square is now, perhaps, the pleasantest place to sit on a 
summer morning or evening among all the out-door loitering places 
in this pleasant city. The trees have grown large, the shrubbery is 
handsome — particularly that pyramid of evergreens on the south 
side — and great care is taken with the flower beds; and finally, you 
may see all the world pass by, for this park is surrounded more or 
less remotely by the homes of the most distinguished persons in 
Washington. 

Two noteworthy statues belong to this park. One is the familiar 
equestrian statue of General and President Andrew Jackson, which 
is the work of Clark Mills, and probably pleases the populace more 
than any other statue in Washington, but is ridiculed by the critics, 
who liken it to a tin soldier balancing himself on a rocking-horse. 
It was cast at Bladensburg by Mills himself, who was given cannon 
captured in Jackson's campaigns for material, set up a furnace, and 
made the first successful large bronze casting in America. Another 
interesting fact about this statue is, that the center of gravity is so 
disposed, by throwing the weight into its hind quarters, that the 
horse stands poised upon its hind legs without any support or the 
aid of any rivets fastening it to the pedestal. This statue was erected 
in 1853, and unveiled on the thirty-eighth anniversary of the battle 
of New Orleans. Its cost was $50,000, part of which was paid by the 
Jackson Monument Association. 

The Me7no7'ial to Lafayette, in the southeast corner of the park, 
is a very different affair, and more in the nature of a monument 
erected by Congress to the services of the noble Frenchmen who lent 
us their assistance in the Revolutionary War. Upon a lofty and 
handsome pedestal stands a heroic bronze figure of the Marquis de 
Lafayette, in the uniform of a Continental general; while nearer the 
base, at the sides, are statues of Rochambeau and Duportail, of the 




THE LAFAYETTE MEMORIAL IN LAFAYETTE SQUARE 



HISTORIC AND PICTURESQUE WASHINGTON. Ill 

French army, and D'Estaing and De Grasse, of the navy. In front 
is "America " holding up a sword to Lafayette. This work is exceed- 
ingly vigorous, and is after models by two of the most eminent of 
modern French sculptors, Falguiere and Mercie. Total cost, 150,000. 

Starting at Pennsylvania Avenue and walking north on Madison 
Place (15K Street), the new Lafayette Square Opera House is immedi- 
ately encountered, standing upon a famous site. The tall, brick house 
which it displaced was originally built by Commodore Rogers, but 
soon became the elite boarding-house of Washington, and numbered 
among its guests John Adams; John C. Calhoun, the fiery South 
Carolinian, while Monroe's Secretary of War and Jackson's Vice- 
' President; and Henry Clay, when he was Adams' Secretary of State. 
I Then it became the property of the Washington Club, and there 
assembled the rich and influential young men of the capital; Sickles 
and Key were both members, and the tragedy which associates their 
names took place in front of its door; later it became the residence of 
Secretary Seward, and there the deadly assault was made upon him 
by the assassin, Payne, at the time of the assassination of Lincoln in 
I 1865. Its next distinguished occupant was James G. Blaine, Secre- 
tary of State in the Harrison administration, and there he died, 
j The fine yellow colonial house next beyond, now the residence of 
! Senator Don Camer6n, was formerly owned and occupied by Ogle 
• Tayloe, son of John Tayloe, of the Octagon house (p. 96) and Mount 
Airy, Va., who w^as in the early diplomatic service and one of the 
most accomplished Americans of his day. All of his rare and costly 
pictures, ornaments, and curios, including much that had belonged to 
Commodore Decatur, passed into possession of the Corcoran Art 
Gallery (p. 136). A later occupant was Admiral Paulding, a son of 
John Paulding, one of the captors of Andre, who suppressed Walker's 
filibusters in Nicaragua. Lily Hammersley, now dowager Duchess of 
Marlborough, was born there, and some of the most brilliant enter- 
tainments ever given in Washington have been under its roof. In 
the next two houses have lived Secretary Windom, Senator Fenton, 
and Robert G. Ingersoll. 

The gray, mastic-stuccoed house on the corner of H Street, now 
the Cosmos Club-house, has also known many celebrated characters. 
It was built about 1825 by Richard Cutts, the brother-in-law of the 
brilliant and versatile "Dolly" Madison, the wife of President 
Madison. It came into Mr. Madison's possession just before his 
death, some twenty years later, and thither his wife, no longer 



112 HANDY GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

young, but still beautiful and witty, held court during her declining 
years. After Mrs. Madison's death this house was occupied by such 
tenants as Attorney-General Crittenden; Senator William C. Preston, 
afterward a Confederate brigadier; and Commodore Wilkes, com- 
mander of the celebrated exploring expedition, who, in 1861, was 
required to take his quondam near neighbor, Slidell, from the 
British steamer Trent. He gave it up when the Civil War broke out, 
and was followed by Gen. George B. McClellan, who established 
here the headquarters of the Army of the Potomac. "A sight of 
frequent occurrence in those days," remarks Miss Lockwood, "was 
the General with his chief of staff. General Marcy, his aids. Count de 
Chartres and Comte de Paris, with Prince de Joinville at their side, 
in full military costume, mounted, ready to gallop off over the 
Potomac hills." Now its halls, remodeled and extended, are trodden 
by the feet of men the most famous in the country as the investiga- 
tors and developers of scientific truth. (See p. 115.) 

Diagonally opposite the Cosmos Club, facing the square on H 
Street, is the square brick Sumner house, now a part of the Arlington. 

"Where the main body of the Arlington Hotel now stands," we 
are told in a neat pamphlet issued by its proprietors, "there were 
three stately residences. One was occupied by William L. Marcy, 
Secretary of War under President Polk and Secretary of State under 
President Pierce; and, when he retired, he was succeeded in this and 
the adjoining house by the Secretary of State, under Buchanan, 
Lewis Cass, who, like Marcy, had previously held the war portfolio. 
In the third mansion, but recently superseded by the noble extension 
of the hotel up Vermont Avenue, dwelt Reverdy Johnson, minister 
to England; and there Presidents Buchanan and Harrison were 
entertained prior to their inauguration; and there Patti, Henry 
Irving, President Diaz of Mexico, King Kalakaua, Dom Pedro, and 
Boulanger found that luxurious seclusion which sovereigns and 
artists seek." 

The great double mansion adjoining the Sumner and Pomeroy 
residence (united as the H -Street front of the hotel) was built by 
Matthew St. Clair Clarke, long Clerk of the House of Representatives, 
and afterward became the British Legation. Here lived Sir Bulwer 
Lytton and his not less famous son and secretary, "Owen Meredith," 
now Lord Lytton, who is supposed to have written here his most 
celebrated poem, "Lucile." In later years the house was occupied by 
Lord Ashburton, who, with Daniel Webster, drafted the "Ashburton 
treaty" which defined our Canadian boundary. A still later occupant 
was John Nelson, Attorney-General in Tyler's cabinet; and it is now 



HISTORIC AND PICTURESQUE WASHINGTON. 113 

the home of Mrs. Margaret Freeman. On the corner of Sixteenth 
Street is St. John's Episcopal Church; and, passing for the present 
other newer residences, another old landmark calls for special atten- 
tion. This is the Decatur House, facing the square on Seventeenth 
Street, at the corner of H, and easily recognized by its pyramidal 
slate roof. This, which was the first private residence on the square, 
was constructed at the close of the War of 1812 by Commander 
Stephen Decatur, the hero of Tripoli, and one of the most popular 
men of the time. He was the author of the maxim — more patriotic 
than righteous — uttered as a toast: "My country — may she always 
be right; but my country, right or wrong ! " His house was adorned 
Jwith a multitude of trophies, gifts from foreign rulers, and rare 
iknickknacks picked up in all parts of the world; and here he was 
brought to die after his duel with Commodore Barron in Bladensburg 
in 1820. Afterward it was occupied by the Russian minister, and 
then by Henry Clay, when he was Secretary of State under John 
Quincy Adams. When Martin Van Buren succeeded him, he took 
this house and cut the window in the south wall, in order that he 
might see the signals displayed from the White House by ' ' Old 
Hickory," whom he worshiped. He in turn gave up the house to 
his successor, Edward Livingston, a brother of Chancellor Robert 
Livingston of New York, whose wafe was that Madame Moreau 
whose wedding in New Orleans was so romantic, and whose daughter 
Cora was the reigning belle of Jackson's administration, as this 
house was its social center. Two or three foreign ministers and 
several eminent citizens filled it in succession, and gave brilliant 
parties at which Presidents were guests, the most recent of whom 
was Gen. E. F. Beale, under whose grandfather Decatur had served 
as midshipman. General Beale died in 1894, and his widow now 
dwells in this storied old mansion. 

A few rods south, next the alley, is another house famous in the 
past. It is one of the navy traditions that it was built by Doctor Ewell 
of that service, and occupied by three Secretaries of the Navy, one of 
whom was the talented Levi Woodbury; then it was the home of 
Senator Rives of Virginia, grandfather of the novelist, Amelie Rives 
(Chanler), and afterward of Gen. Daniel Sickles, whose tragedy is 
indelibly associated with this beautiful locality. Vice-President 
Colfax was a still later tenant, and then the house passed into pos- 
session of the late Washington McLean, editor of the Cincinnati 
Enquirer. 



114 HANDY GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

In this same row, No. 22, the former residence of William M. 
Marcy, Secretary of War, and afterward Secretary of State (i853-'57), 
is now the home of Mrs. R. H. Townsend, daughter of the late 
William L. Scott, of Erie, Pa. Gen. J. G. Parke, who commanded 
the Fifth Army Corps, and was chief -of-staff to Burnside, resides in 
No. 16; and No. 6 is the residence of Mrs. Martha Reed, sister of the 
late Admiral Dahlgren. Lovers of trees will take notice of the row 
of Chinese gingko trees, which shade the sidewalk opposite this row of 
houses, on the western margin of the square. 

Fourteenth Street and Franklin Square. Fourteenth Street is 
the great north-and-south line of travel, extending far out into the 
high northern suburb of Mount Pleasant. Numerous cars run upon it, 
and it passes Franklin Square and Thomas Circle. Fra7iklin Square, 
betw^een Fourteenth and Thirteenth, and I and K streets, comprises 
about four acres, densely shaded, and is a favorite place of resort in 
summer evenings. In its center is the spring of excellent water from 
which the White House is supplied, and where there is a public drink- 
ing fountain. The Franklin school-house overlooks the square on the 
east, and the Hamilton and Cochran hotels are just above it on Four- 
teenth Street. The church on the next corner (L Street) is All Souls 
(Unitarian), diagonally opposite which is The Portland. This brings 
you to Thomas Circle, in the center of which is J. Q. A. Ward's eques- 
trian bronze statue of Gen, George H. Thomas, the " Rock of 
Chickamauga" and hero of Nashville. 

This statue was erected, with great ceremony, in 1879, by the 
Societ}^ of the Army of the Cumberland, which paid $40,000 for the 
design and the casting (in Philadelphia). The pedestal, which bears 
the bronze insignia of the Army of -the Cumberland, and its orna- 
mental lamps were furnished by Congress, at an expense of $25,000. 
The statue is itself nineteen feet in height, and is finely modeled; but 
many admirers of this sturdy unassuming commander regret that 
in his representation there is not more ina7i and less horse. 

Northwest of Thomas Circle, in front of Lutheran Memorial 
Church, stands one of the most artistic statues in the city, erected by 
the Lutheran Church of America to Martin Luther. It was cast in 
Germany from the same molds as Rietschel's center-piece of the cele- 
brated memorial at Wurms, and expresses the indomitable attitude 
of the great reformer on all questions of conscience. This statue is 
eleven feet in height and cost $10,000. 

Fourteenth Street above this point has nothing of special interest, 
but is a handsome and busy highway; and its extension on the ele- 




STATUE OF MAJOR-GENERAL GEORGE H. THOMAS. 



HIS TORIC A ND PICTURESQ UE WA SHING TON. 1 15 

vated ground of Meridian Hill, north of the city boundary, is rapidly 
being settled upon by important people. The gray stone castle sur- 
rounded by large grounds, at the foot of the hill on the right, is called 
•'Belmont,"and belongs to A. L. Barber, owner of the Trinidad asphalt 
mines. Mrs. General Logan lives at Calumet Place, two blocks east, 
on the street north of " Belmont," where she has a cabinet of relics 
of her famous husband, which is frequently visited by veterans of the 
war. Mr. Justice Harlan, of the Supreme Court, resides on the oppo- 
site side of the street, two blocks north, at the corner of Euclid Place. 
The Chinese Legation occupies a row of four brownstone houses 
on the crest of the hill (No. 2703), and can be distinguished by the 
1 yellow flag, bearing a dragon in black, which always floats from the 
tower. Beyond it are other fine estates and beautiful roads. 

Following H Street from Fourteenth westward. No. 1404, now 
known as the Elsmere Hotel, was for many years the residence of the 
Jate Zachariah Chandler; No. 1411 was the residence of the late Justice 
I William Strong, of the Supreme Court, and No. 1405 is the parish house 
! of old St. Matthew's Church, on the corner of Fifteenth Street, 
I recently abandoned for a more modern and commodious structure on 
i Rhode Island Avenue. The magnificent Shoreham Hotel (p. 11), 
' Wormley's (now closed), and the Columbian University occupy the 
' other corners. 

I The Columbian Ujiiversity is one of the oldest and best-equipped 
I schools of higher learning at the capital. It has a preparatory 
I school and departments of undergraduate and postgraduate aca- 
I demic studies; special courses in science (Corcoran Scientific School); 
\ of medicine and dentistry; and of law. Its endowments now amount 
I to about $1,000,000, and its faculty and list of lecturers include a 
large number of men in public life, from certain justices of the 
, Supreme Court down. This is particularly true of the Corcoran 
i Scientific School, where the lecturers are all men identified with 
I special investigations at the Smithsonian, Geological Survey, or in 
j some of the technical branches of the Army or Navy. This univer- 
j sity, which was aided at the beginning by the Government, has 
I always had access to and made great use of the libraries and museums 
J which abound here and are of so great educational value. 

Continuing our notes westward along H Street: Gen. Chauncey 
I McKeever, U. S. A., lives at No. 1508, and on the left-hand corner, 
1 at Madison Place, is the Cosmos Club. 

^ The Cosmos Club is a social club of men interested in science, of 
I whom Washington now contains a greater number and, on the aver- 
age, a higher grade than any other city. This is due to the employ- 
\ mentand encouragement given by the Smithsonian Institution, Agri- 



116 HANDY G UIDE TO WA SHING TON. 

cultural Department, Geological and Coast surveys, Fish Commis- 
sion, Naval Observatory, technical dei3artments of the Treasury, 
"War, and Navy departments, and two or three universities. This 
club may therefore be considered the intellectual center of the non- 
political life of the capital, and at any one of its delightful Monday 
evenings, half a hundred men of high attainments and wide reputation 
may be seen, and the conversation heard is, in its way, as interest- 
ing and inspiring as anything to be listened to in the land. The 
historic old house (p. iii) has been somewhat modified, chiefly by 
the addition of a large hall, which may be shut off from the remain- 
ing rooms and used as a meeting room; and there the Philosophical, 
Biological, Geographic, and kindred societies hold their meetings on 
stated evenings. 

The Arlington Hotel, including the former residences of Senators 
Sumner and Pomeroy, is diagonally opposite the Cosmos; and next 
beyond is the " Bulwer House," and then St. John's Episcopal Church. 
All these face Lafayette Square and have been elsewhere described 
(p. no). On the farther corner of Sixteenth Street, opposite St. 
John's, is the beautiful home of Col. John Hay, the author of " Little 
Breeches" and other poems, and the co-biographer, with Mr. Nicolay, 
of the principal biography of Lincoln. The yellow house, No. 1607, 
next beyond, was built and for many years occupied by Com. 
Richard Stockton, who added to a glorious naval record, in the Medi- 
terranean and West Indies, the establishment of American rule in 
California in 1845. Later it was tenanted by Slidell, who, with 
Mason, was sent by the Confederate government to England as a 
commissioner, but was captured on the Trent by his quondam 
neighbor, Commodore Wilkes, who then lived in the present home of 
the Cosmos Club. It is now the residence of Mr. Lamont, Secretary 
of War. The adjoining house on the corner of Seventeenth Street — 
which was for many years the residence of the late W. W. Corcoran, 
the philanthropic banker, to whom the city owes the Corcoran Gal- 
lery (p. 134), the Louise Home (p. 121), and other enterprises and bene- 
factions, and which is now occupied by Senator Calvin S. Brice — is 
another of the famous homes of old Washington, and has been the 
residence of several men of note, including Daniel Webster, the 
British Minister, Lord Lyons, and a French Minister, M. Montholon. 

Crossing Connecticut Avenue, the corner house is that of Admiral 
Shubrick, opposite which (on Seventeenth), facing the Square, is the 
ancient Decatur House (p. 113). Next beyond, No. 1621 H Street, is the 
residence of Judge J. C. Bancroft Davis, the diplomat, now reporter of 
the Supreme Court. In the old-fashioned square house adjoining it, 



HISTORIC AND PTCTUJiESQUE WASHINGTON. 117 

to the west, George Bancroft spent the last twenty years of his life, 
and completed his History of the United States. The Richmond, on 
the corner of Seventeenth Street, is a popular family hotel. The 
Albany, on the other side, is an apartment house for gentlemen ; and 
on the southwest corner is the Metropolitan Club, the largest, wealthi- 
est, and most fashionable club in Washington, one rule of which is, 
that members of the foreign diplomatic service, resident in Washing- 
ton, are ex-ojfficio members of the club, and need only pay stipulated 
dues in order to take advantage of its privileges. This block on H 
Street between Seventeenth and Eighteenth streets is familiarly 
known as the Midway Plaisance. Adjoining the Metropolitan Club 
are club chambers for gentlemen, and the large yellow house, next 
westward, was the home of Admiral Porter of the United States Navy. 
It is now the French Embassy, Nearly opposite, at No. 1710, is the 
Washington Club, an exclusive organization of fashionable ladies. 
The Milton and Everett are family apartment houses; and No. 1739 
is the residence of William A. Richardson, formerly Secretary of the 
Treasury, and now Chief Justice of the Court of Claims. 

In this neighborhood dwelt many old Washington families and 
some modern notabilities. The Everett house, on the southeast 
corner of Eighteenth and G, is historic. It was built and occupied 
by Edward Everett of Massachusetts, when Secretary of State under 
Fillmore. Afterward it was the home of Jefferson Davis, when 
Secretary of War, after his marriage with his second wife. He 
continued there during his term as Secretary of State, but not after 
he returned to the Senate. His successor in the house was another 
traitor in high place, Jacob Thompson, Buchanan's Secretary of the 
Interior, who became a member of the Confederate cabinet in 1861. 
Then followed Capt. Henry A. Wise, a well-known, officer of the 
navy, after whom the medical department of the navy used the 
house for many years. 

The Wirt house is a few rods to the east of the Edward Everett 
house, on G, between Seventeenth and Eighteenth, on the south 
side. It is so called because that eminent jurist lived here twelve 
years, during the administrations of Monroe and J. Q. Adams. Miss 
Lockwood tells us that it is not known who built the house, but that 
it was occupied at the beginning of the century by Washington's 
private secretary. Col. Tobias Lear, a Revolutionary officer, who was 
the commissioner that concluded the peace with Tripoh. Wirt was 
United States Attorney-General from 181 7. to 1829. His gardens 



118 HANDY GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

were large and beautiful, for his wife was exceedingly fond of 
flowers and was the author of " Flora's Dictionary." The most bril- 
liant entertainments of that day were given here, until Jackson's time, 
when it was sold and occupied later by a succession of cabinet officers 
and high functionaries, one of whom gave a dinner to the Prince of 
Wales under its roof. During or after the war it became the office of 
the Army Signal Corps; and there the present weather service was 
developed. The present chief signal officer, weather expert, and 
Arctic explorer, Gen. A. W. Greely, resides near, at No. 1914 G Street, 
and General Miles, commanding the army, at No. 1927. Doctor Ham- 
mond, ex-surgeon-general of the army, lives on Fifteenth Street 
extended, where he has a large mansion called " Belcourt." 

Going westward on I Street from Fourteenth Street the first 
house on the right is owned and occupied by John W. Foster, the 
diplomat, who was Secretary of State under Harrison and, later, 
advisory counsel to China in her settlement with Japan. The large 
brick house adjoining is the Mexican Legation. Chief Justice Waite 
lived in the house beyond the alley, now occupied by the widow of 
ex-Governor Swann. The brownstone mansion at No. 1419 is the resi- 
dence of John W. Thompson, president of the National Metropolitan 
Bank. Senator Chandler of New Hampshire lives in No. 142 1, once the 
residence of Caleb Cushing. The southeast corner of Fifteenth and 
I streets is John Chamberlin's hotel, which occupies three houses 
that formerly belonged to Fernando" Wood, ex-Governor Swann of 
Maryland (who placed in one of them two Thorwaldsen mantels 
from the Van Ness mansion), and James G. Blaine, who lived there 
when Speaker of the House of Representatives. Number 819 
Fifteenth Street is occupied by Gen. Stewart Van Vleit, U. S. A. 
Opposite Chamberlin's, on the southwest corner (No. 1500 I Street), 
Hamilton Fish lived when he was Secretary of State, and it is now 
the residence of John McLean of the Cincinnati Eiigtdrer. These 
houses face upon McPherso7i Square, one of the most finished of 
the city's smaller parks. 

The noble equestrian statue that graces this square was erected 
by the Army of the Tennessee to its commander, James B. McPher- 
son, who was killed at Atlanta; and it was his successor, Gen. John 
A. Logan, who made the dedicatory oration, when, amid a great 
military display, this statue was unveiled in 1876. The sculptor was 
Louis T. Robisso, and the statue was composed of cannon captured 
in Georgia. The cost was about $50,000. 

Many fine residences and hotels face this square, and Vermont 
Avenue passes through it toward the northeast. 




La Normandie 



Hotel 



|S a new house situated in the fashionable 
West End, opposite McPherson Square, 
within two blocks of the White House, 
Treasury, and State, War and Navy Depart- 
ments. 

All the latest improvements in sanitary 
plumbing, ventilation, heating, and incan- 
descent electric lighting have been adopted. 

The house is exceptionally well finished 
and furnished, and is, without doubt, the 
best Hotel in Washington. A special 
feature is made of the cuisine and service. 

Rooms are arranged either singly or in 
suites of parlor, bath-room, and as many 
bedrooms as desired. 

HORACE M. CAKE, 

PROPRIETOR. 



HISTORIC AND PICTURESQUE WASHINGTON. 119 

Continuing westward, No. 1535 H Street is the residence of 
pjames G. Berret, who was mayor of Washington during the late 
jWar. Mr. Justice Gray lives in No. 1601; No. 1600 is the home of 
JMrs. Tuckerman, the widow of a New York banker; No. 161 7 was 
the residence of the late George W.. Riggs, and is now occupied by his 
daughters; No. 1701 is the University Club; No. 1707 is the residence 
of Mrs. Stanley Matthews; Paymaster-General Watmough of the navy 
lives in No. 1711, and John A. Kasson in No. 1726. Number 1731 is a 
famous house, having been occupied by Mr. Frelinghuysen when he 
was Secretary of State; William C. Whitney, Cleveland's first Secre- 
5bary of the Navy, and John Wanamaker, when he was Postmaster- 
General; it is now owned and occupied by S. S. Rowland, a son- 
in-law of the late August Belm.ont. In No. 1739, at the corner of 
Eighteenth Street, resides Harriet Lane Johnson, who presided at 
f;he White House during the Buchanan administration. Gen. T. H. 
Rucker, U. S. A., a prominent officer in the Civil War, and father of 
the widow of General Sheridan, lives at No. 2005; Admiral Self ridge 
dwells at No. 2013; Gen, Robert Macfeely, U. S. A., at No. 2015; 
nd Prof. Cleveland Abbe, the meteorologist, at No. 2018. 
Following K Street westward from Twelfth Street, the first 
noiise on the southwest corner is the parsonage of the New York 
Avenue Presbyterian Church, occupied by the Rev. Mr. Radcliffe. 
In No. 1205 resides A. S. Soloman, the almoner of Baron Hirsch, the 
Jewish philanthropist. Number 130J was once the residence of Ros- 
|:oe Conkling; No. 13 11 was built by Ben Holliday, who operated 
the pony express across the continent for many years before the con- 
struction of the Union Pacific Railway; No. 1313 was formerly the 
home of Robert G. Ingersoll; Senator John Sherman lives at No. 
[1321; and No. 1325 was, during the war, the residence of Secretary 
lEdwin M. Stanton; Secretary Carlisle lives at 1426; Admiral Worden, 
the commander of the Mojiitor during her fight with the MerrimaCy 
'dwells at No. 1428, and Senator Gorman at No. 1432. The large 
pouse at the corner of Vermont Avenue and K Street is occupied by 
JGrosvenor P. Lowrey, a patent lawyer, and the brownstone front 
Adjoining was built by ex-Senator Palmer of Michigan. Repre- 
sentative Hitt of Illinois lives at No. 1507; Mrs. B. H. Warder at No. 
515; and the new yellow house near the corner of Sixteenth Street 
s the home of the widow of George W. Childs of Philadelphia. The 
ouse at the southeast corner of K and Sixteenth streets, another of 
Lichardson's productions, is occupied by the widow of Nicholas 
12 



120 HANDY GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

Anderson of Cincinnati. Representative Draper of Massachusetts 
lives in No. 1601; Mr. Bissell, formerly Postmaster-General, in No. 
1609; the Rev. Doctor McKim, rector of Epiphany Church, at No. 
1621; Senator Matthew Quay in No. 1620; Hoke Smith, Secretary of 
the Interior, in No. 1623; Jerome Bonaparte, a great grand-nephew 
of Napoleon, in No. 1627; Senator Murphy of New York in No. 1701; 
and Titian J. Coffey, an ex-Secretary of the Navy, lives in No. 1713. 
"Little Lord Faun tleroy " was written in the house at No. 1730, 
which was then the residence of Doctor Swan M. and Mrs. Frances 
Hodgson Burnett — the former a distinguished oculist, and the latter 
the well-known novelist; but their present home is at No. 1770 Mas- 
sachusetts Avenue. 

Sixteenth Street which starts from Lafayette Square, opposite 
the White House, is sometimes known as Executive Avenue, and 
Congress has been importuned to legalize that name, St. John's 
Church is on the right, at the corner of H Street, and the residence of 
Mr. John Hay on the left. At the northwest corner of I Street Mr. 
Justice Gray of the Supreme Court resides, and back of him is The 
Arno, a fashionable family hotel. No. 930 is the home of Maj. 
George M. Wheeler, U. S. A., who conducted the " surveys west of 
the looth meridian " with which his name is identified. Senator 
Hale of Maine lives at No. looi; Surgeon-General Sternberg, of the 
army, at No. 1019; Senator Proctor of Vermont at the northeast cor- 
ner of L Street, and E. F. Andrews, the artist, at No. 1232. Passing 
Scott Circle (p. 121), Representative Huff of Pennsylvania resides at 
No. 1323; the Rev. Alex. Mackay-Smith, rector of St. John's Church, 
at No. 1325; ex-Representative Bourke Cockran at No. 1333; W. G. 
Gurley, a Washington banker, at No. 1401 ; Mr. Justice Brown of the 
Supreme Court at No. 1720; Gen. Rufus Saxton, U. S. A., at No. 1821, 
and Senator Irby of South Carolina at No. 192 1. The conspicuous 
brownstone " castle " on high ground at the end of Sixteenth Street, 
on the left, is the home of ex-Senator Henderson of Missouri. 

Massachusetts Avenue is one of the finest streets in the city, 
and a great promenade. It stretches parallel with Pennsylvania 
Avenue from Hospital Square (p. 58), on the Anacostia River, north- 
westward through Lincoln Square (p. 58), Stanton Square (p. 57), 
Mount Vernon Square — a pretty little park where New York Avenue 
crosses Eighth and K streets, three blocks north of the Patent 
Office— Thomas Circle (p. 114), Scott Circle (p. 121), Dupont Circle 
(p. 124), and Decatur Circle, where it bends slightly and is extended 




STATUE OF GENERAL WINFIELD S. SCOTT 



IirS TORIC AND PICTURESQ UE IVA SHING TON. 121 

through the elegant suburb on the banks of Rock Creek, and so out 
to the hilly region north of Georgetown. An excellent view of this 
stately boulevard can be obtained at its junction with Twelfth Street, 
which is one of the highest points in Washington. i*^*C§cension Epis- 
copal Church fills the northwest corner at this crossing. Robert 
Hinkley, the artist, lives 'in No. 1310 ; Mr. Justice Morris, of the 
District Supreme Court, in No. 1314 ; J. Stanley-Brown, private secre- 
tary of the late President Garfield, and " Molly" Garfield, his wife, 
in No. 13 18. Mr. E. Francis Riggs resides at No. 131 1, and the 
widow of Admiral Dahlgren in No. 1325 ; No. 1330 is the Legation 
of Chile, and the large square house at the junction of M Street and 
Vermont Avenue, facing Thomas Circle, is the home of ex-Justice 
Wiley, of the District Supreme Court. Mr. Justice Brewer lives at 
No. 1412, Senator CuUom at No. 141 3, the widow of Mr. Justice 
Miller at No. 141 5, S. H. Kauffman, proprietor of The Evening Star, 
at No. 1421 , Senator Davis, of Minnesota, at No. 1428. The large red- 
brick house. No. 1435, is the German Embassy. The brownstone 
building surrounded by large grounds, on the south side of Massachu- 
setts Avenue, between Fifteenth and Sixteenth streets, is the Lota's e 
Houie^ It was founded by the late W. W. Corcoran, and nearly all 
its inmates are widows of ex-Confederate officers belonging to the 
aristocracy of the South, who lost their fortunes during the war. 
Nearly opposite it was the home of the late Prof. Spencer F. Baird, 
long United States Fish Commissioner and Secretary of the Smith- 
sonian Institution. The familiar name for Scott Circle, the locality 
around the statue of General Scott, at the junction of Massachusetts 
and Rhode Island avenues. Sixteenth and N streets, is "Calamity 
Circle," because every person who built a house there died shortly 
afterward, or was visited with some misfortune. 

This equestrian statue of Gen. Winfield Scott, the victor in the 
Mexican War, was erected in 1874. "It was modeled by H. K. 
Brown, and cast in Philadelphia from cannon captured in Mexico. 
Its total height is fifteen feet, and its cost was $20,000. The pedestal 
is of granite from Cape Ann quarries, and is composed of five huge 
blocks, said to be the largest ever quarried in the United States. 
The cost of the pedestal was about $25,000. General Scott is repre- 
sented in the uniform of his rank as Lieutenant-General." 

The large house at the junction of N Street and Massachusetts 
Avenue belongs to Paymaster Cutter, of the navy. The mansion 
to the northward, between N Street and Rhode Island Avenue, 
was erected by Prof. Alex. Graham Bell, inventor of the telephone, 



122 HANDY GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

and after several years was sold to Levi P. Morton, who occupied it 
while he was Vice-President. The square brick house at the north- 
east corner of Sixteenth Street was built by Senator Cameron, of 
Pennsylvania, and sold to Mr. D. P. Morgan, a New York banker, 
whose widow and family still reside there. On the opposite side of 
Sixteenth Street the late William Windom lived while he was a Sen- 
ator from Minnesota and Secretary of the Treasury ; it is- now 
owned and occupied by Charles A. Munn, formerly of Chicago. The 
house adjoining, which belongs to Stilson Hutchins, a well-known 
writer, is usually rented by one of the foreign legations. E. Kurtz 
Johnson, a banker, built and died in the house at the western corner 
of N Street. Continuing westward on Massachusetts Avenue, Mr. 
Spofford, the Librarian of Congress, lives at No. 1621; No. 1623 is the 
Nicaragua Legation, and No. 1627 is the residence of the widow of 
the late Senator Vance, of North Carolina. Bishop Hurst, of the 
Methodist church, resides in No. 1701; Thomas Nelson Page, the 
author of " Marse Chan" and many other stories, in No. 1708; Beriah 
Wilkins, of the Washington Post, in No. 1709; Senator Lodge, of 
Massachusetts, in No. 1765. Number 1770 belongs to Doctor Burnett 
(p. 120), and Chief Justice Fuller lives in No. 1800, at the corner of 
Eighteenth Street. The castellated house opposite belongs to the 
widow of the late Belden Noble. The little church on the triangle is 
the property of the estate of the late Senator Van Wyck, of Nebraska; 
it has been occupied alternately by the Episcopalians and by the li 
Swedenborgians, and Mr. Van Wyck used it as a dwelling for some ^| 
time before his death. The large mansion of fire-brick on P Street, 
back of it, is occupied by William J. Boardman, of Cleveland, Ohio. 
Passing beyond Dupont Circle (p. 121), No. 1915, adjoining " Stewart 
Castle," is the residence of Paymaster Michler, of the navy, and on 
the corner opposite lived for many years the late Mrs. Craig Wads- 
worth, who was a leader of Washington society; No. 2013 is the resi- 
dence 01 Charles M. Ffoulke, and the hall which adjoins it on the east 
was built to exhibit his collection of tapestries, which is one of the 
finest in the world. On the opposite side of the street, m the rear 
of the Blaine house (p. 124), Miss Grace Denio Litchfield, the novel- 
ist, resides. Number 2100 is the residence of B. H. Warner, a 
Washington banker, and the large mansion at No. 2122 was erected 
by the late Mrs. Patton, who inherited a fortune gained by her 
husband in the mines of Nevada; it is now occupied by her foui 
daughters. No. 2111, on the opposite side of the street, was erected 



I 



HISTORIC AND PICTURESQUE WASHINGTON. 123 

by ex-Senator Edmunds, of Vermont, and was sold by him in 1895 
to the widow of General Grant, who now resides there with her 
daughter, Mrs. Nellie Sartoris. The gray house to the westward is 
the residence of Curtis J. Hillyer. 

Connecticut Avenue, from H Street to the boundary, is the Sun- 
day afternoon promenade. Starting northward upon our survey at 
Lafayette Square, where the gardens of the Webster house (p. 121) 
fill the corner at the right. No. 814 was the residence, after the 
Civil War, of Admiral Wilkes (p. 112), and is still occupied by his 
family. Just beyond is Farragut Square, a small, prettily planted 
park, in the center of which is a statue to the hero of Mobile Bay 
and the Mississippi forts. 

This statue of Farragut represents him as standing upon the 
deck of his flagship Hartford, from whose propeller the metal 
of which the statue is composed, was taken, and was cast in 1880, 
after models by Mrs. Lieutenant Hoxie, then Miss Vinnie Ream. It 
cost $25,000, and was dedicated in April, 1881, many of Farragut's 
old shipmates taking part in the ceremonies. See illustration, p. 10. 

The large gray house on the next corner (numbered 1 705 K Street) 
was originally the residence of Alexander R. Shepherd, the rebuilder 
of Washington (p. 16). It was for many years the Russian Legation, 
and is now owned and occupied by Mrs. Bugher. The houses back 
of it are usually occupied by attaches of the different legations. The 
large brick building at the corner of L Street, on the right, is a 
Catholic school for girls; and the yellow house on the opposite 
corner of De Sales Street is the Grafton Hotel. Colonel John M. 
Wilson, Superintendent of Public Buildings and Grounds, resides at 
No. 1141; Senator Wolcott, of Colorado, at No. 1221, and Professor 
Thomas Wilson, anthropologist of the Smithsonian Institution, at 
No. 121 8. The handsome stone church (p. 134), with the large square 
tower, is the Presbyterian Church of the Covenant. The Brazilian 
Legation occupies the corner of N Street, to the west. On the 
opposite corner, to the north, is the British Embassy. This is one of 
the few legations in Washington that are owned, and not rented, by 
their governments, the others being those of Austria, Brazil, Ger- 
many, Japan, and Korea. It occupies the site, curiously enough, of 
the first and only cricket club at the capital, which ceased to play 
many years ago. On the point between Connecticut Avenue and 
Eighteenth Street stands the residence of Commander William H. 
Emory, U. S. N., now occupied by Representative Reyburn, of 
Philadelphia. The Austrian government has recently purchased. 



124 HANDY GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

and now occupies, No, 1307 as a Legation. Inspector General Breck- 
enridge, U. S. A., at No. 1314, Admiral Carter at No. 1316, Gardiner 
G. Hubbard at No. 1328, and Prof. A. Graham Bell at No. 1321. 
These houses are upon Dupoiit Circle. See illustration, p. 56. 

This pretty circular park occupies the interior of the space made 
by the intersection here of Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New- 
Hampshire avenues, and P and Nineteenth streets. In its center 
stands the bronze statue of Admiral Samuel F. Dupont, a popular 
officer of the navy during the Civil War, which was designed by 
Launt Thomson, cost $10,000, and was unveiled in 1884. Passing 
beyond Dupont Circle, the large red-brick house to the westward, on 
the point between P Street and Massachusetts Avenue, w^as erected 
by the late James G. Blaine when he was Secretary of State in 
Garfield's cabinet; it still belongs to his estate, but is occupied by 
Mrs. Westinghouse, of Pittsburg. The gray house, No. 8, is known 
as Castle Stewart. It was for many years the Chinese Legation, and 
there was given the famous ball, in 1886, when Washington was 
scandalized by scenes of social riot. It is now the residence of its 
owner. Senator Stewart, of Nevada. The big cream-colored house, 
with the lofty pillared portico, at No. 1400 New Hampshire Avenue, 
opposite, is the home of the wealthy merchant, L. Z. Leiter, formerly 
of Chicago, whose daughter married Lord Curzon. The new gray 
house at No. 161 1 Connecticut Avenue is the home of Mrs. Colton, 
whose husband was formerly treasurer of the Central Pacific Rail- 
road. Francis B. Colton lives in the English basement house, a 
little farther north. The large brownstone residence at the point 
between Connecticut Avenue and Twentieth Street is the winter 
home of ex-Senator Philetus Sawyer, of Wisconsin; the brick house. 
No. 1705, is the Spanish Legation; Admiral Crosby lives at No. 
1 71 8, and William E. Curtis, the newspaper writer and author of 
many books of travel, lives at No. 1801, at the corner of S Street. 
The little chapel on the hill above is St. Margaret's (Episcopal). | 

''Coii7iecticut Avejttie Extended'' is the name applied to this 
street where, beyond Rock Creek, it resumes its straight course. It 
leads directly to Chevy Chase (p. 155), and bids fair to become the 
highway of one of the best of the future suburban districts. 

On Rhode Island Avenue. The widow of Chief Justice Waite lives 
at No. 1616, just west of Scott Circle; and the widow of General 
Sheridan at No. 161 7, across the way; No. 1626 is the home of Albert 
Clifford Barney; and at No. 1640, Mr. Olney, the present Secretary 




STATUE OF WASHINGTON IN WASHINGTON CIRCLE. 



HISTORIC AND PICTURESQUE WASHINGTON. 125 

of State, resides. Mrs. Robert Anderson, the widow of the hero of 
Fort Sumter, lives at No. 1406. The small "circle," with a fountain 
at the intersection of Vermont Avenue and P Street, is named Iowa, 
and will probably be ornamented by a statue to Gen. John A. Logan. 

New Hampshire Avenue is a long street nearly parallel with 
Vermont Avenue, reaching from the Potomac northeast to the bound- 
ary at the head of^ Fifteenth Street, and then extended through the 
distant suburb of Brightwood (p. 149). There is a pretty triangle 
where it crosses Virginia Avenue; and where it crosses Pennsylvania, 
K, and Twenty-third streets, is a park named Washington Circle. 
An equestrian bronze statue of Washington, modeled and cast by 
Clark Mills, was erected here long ago, at a cost of $50,000. The 
artist is said to have intended to represent him as he appeared at 
the battle of Princeton. 

Some distance above this, the triangle, at the junction of the ave- 
nue, N, and Twentieth streets, is covered by the residence of Dr. Guy 
Fairfax Whiting. Christian Heurich, who owns the brewery a block 
below, lives at No. 1307. Paymaster-General Stewart, United States 
Navy, resides at No. 131 5; Senator Voorhees at No. 1323; Mrs. 
Phoebe Hearst, widow of the late Senator from California, at No. 
1400, and the widow of the late " Sunset " Cox at No. 1408. North 
of Dupont Circle, the Leiter mansion (p. 124) is conspicuous, and that 
of W. C. Whittemore, another retired Chicago merchant, is on the 
next corner at No. 1526. The large, white house opposite this is the 
home of Lieut. Richardson Clover, United States Navy, who married 
a daughter of the late Senator Miller, of California. The Rev. P. 
Van Wyck, a retired chaplain of the navy, lives at No. 1601, and Rep- 
resentative Dalzell, of Pennsylvania, at No. 1605. 

Some notable residences, away from the district surveyed above, 
should be mentioned. The officers attached to the Navy Yard, 
to the Washington Barracks (Fourth Artillery, U. S. A.), and to the 
Sixth Cavalry at Fort Myer, dwell at these stations in the more or 
less cozy quarters provided by the Government for them. Senator 
Morgan, of Alabama, lives in a brownstone house opposite the First 
Presbyterian Church, at No. 315 Four-and-a-half Street. 

Cardinal Satolli, the Apostle Legate of the Pope of Rome to the 
United States, resides at No. 201 I Street. This house was pre- 
sented to General Grant, by the citizens of Washington, at the close of 
the war, and occupied by him until he was inaugurated as President. 
It was afterward the residence of Justice Bradley of the Supreme 



126 HANDY GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

Court. The adjoining house, No. 203, was presented to Gen. W. T. 
Sherman, who lived there for several years, and afterward on 
Fifteenth Street. Mrs. Jean Lander, once a famous actress, resides 
at No. 45 B Street, S. E., facing Capitol Park; and John G. Nicolay, 
private secretary to President Lincoln, and his co-biographer with 
Mr. Hay, is at No. 212, on the opposite side of the same street. 
Mr. Justice Field of the Supreme Court, Senator Harris of Tennes- 
see, and ex-Governor Ordway of Dakota inhabit the block on Capitol 
Park, which was originally the old Capitol. 



X. 

OFFICIAL ETIQUETTE AT THE 
CAPITAL. 



Washington society is distinguished from that of other cities 
mainly by its semi-official character, and in a manner that is not 
reproduced in any other capital the world over. The official etiquette 
which surrounds its social observances is simple, and, although new 
conditions have tended to make some part of the code complex to 
those who would wish to see its rules as clearly defined as constitu- 
tional amendments, the most important of its customs have become 
laws which are generally accepted. The ever-changing personality 
of the heads of the executive branches of the Government, and of 
the lawmakers themselves, together with that innate hatred for any- 
thing partaking too much of court ceremonial, precedence, etc., 
which is strong in the average American, were good enough reasons 
for the last generation in leaving these questions unsettled, and will, 
in all probability, even better answer the bustling spirit of the actors 
upon the social stage. To the stranger who wishes to meet persons 
of national prominence at official gatherings, and to catch, besides, a 
glimpse of that plant of slower and more substantial growth — resi- 
dential society — the path can be made very easy and the way clear. 

Social Formalities at the White House. — The President, as the 
head of the Nation, is entitled to first place whenever he mingles in 
social life. Whether the second place belongs to the Vice-President 
or to the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court has not been defined 
any clearer than whether the Speaker of the House is entitled to 
precedence over members of the Cabinet. In the popular mind, the 
second place is accorded the Vice-President by virtue of his right of 
succession to the highest office in the gift of the people, by the death, 
resignation, or disability of the President. Since the passage of the 
Presidential Succession bill (January 19, 1886), the Cabinet is given 
precedence over the Speaker by the same process of reasoning, 

(137) 



128 HANDY GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

The official social season extends from New Year to Ash Wed- 
nesday, the first day of Lent. All the formal hospitalities at the 
Executive Mansion occur within this period. On New Year's the 
President holds a reception which begins at ii o'clock and closes at 
2 p. m. The Vice-President and the Cabinet are first received, and 
then the Diplomatic Corps. After that body, the Supreme Court, 
Senators and Members of Congress, officers of the army and navy, 
department chiefs, etc. The last hour is given to the public. 

During the season, three card receptions are held — the first in 
honor of the Diplomatic Corps; the second in honor of the judi- 
ciary and the Congress; while the third is one at which officers of the 
army, navy, and Marine Corps are the guests of honor. A fourth 
reception is for the public. Advance notice is given in the daily 
papers of each reception. Invitations for the whole series are sent 
out about the first of January to the Diplomatic Corps, to all high 
officials in the executive and legislative departments, to officers of 
the army, navy, and Marine Corps, and to acquaintances of the 
President and his family among residents of Washington and other 
cities. Diplomats wear either court or military uniforms, and officers 
of the three branches of the service also appear in uniform. No cards 
of invitation are presented by guests when entering the Executive 
Mansion, so that practically all these receptions are public events. 

The President is assisted on these occasions by his wife, the wife 
of the Vice-President, and the Cabinet ladies. The State Dining- 
room, at the west end of the house, is used as a cloak room. Having 
laid aside their wraps, several hundred persons are usually assembled 
in the main corridor when the President and wife and the receiving 
party descend to the Blue Room (p. 71), where these receptions are 
held. Guests approach the Blue Room through the Red Room. 
Each person announces his or her name to the usher, who stands at 
the threshold of the Blue Room. He repeats it to the army officer 
who stands next to the President and who presents each person to 
him. The President always shakes hands. Another army officer 
standing in front of the President's wife repeats each name to her. 
She and the ladies assisting, shake hands with each person who 
offers their hand to them. A knowledge of this fact on the part of 
strangers will avoid mutual embarrassment. Some ladies in the 
ultrafashionable set make deep courtesies to each person instead of 
shaking hands, when going down the line at these receptions, but 
the custom has not grown in favor. If not invited to join those back 



OFFICIAL ETIQUETTE. 129 

of the line, guests pass through the Green to the East Room. In this 
stately apartment the gathering assumes its most brilliant aspect. 

In the case of a public reception, persons approach the White 
House by the west gate and a line is formed, which frequently ex- 
tends as far west as Seventeenth Street, those coming last taking 
their places at the end. After the threshold of the White House is 
crossed, the line is a single file through the vestibule, the corridor, 
and the Red Room to the Blue Room. As in the case of a guest at 
a card reception, each person announces his or her name to the 
usher, by whom it is repeated to the army officer who makes the 
presentations to the President. These rules are also observed when 
the wife of the President holds a public reception. 

The state dimters alternate with the levees. The first dinner is 
given in honor of the Cabinet, the second in honor of the Diplomatic 
Corps, and the third in honor of the judiciary. The President and 
his wife receive their guests in the East Room (p. 70) , an army 
officer making the presentations. When the butler announces din- 
ner, the President gives his arm to the lady whose husband's official 
position entitles her to precedence and leads the way to the State 
Dining-room. If a dinner of more than forty covers is given, the 
table is laid in the corridor. 

An invitation to dine with the President may not be declined, 
excepting where serious reasons can be stated in the note of regret. 
A prior engagement is not considered a sufficient reason, and, in fact, 
nothing less than personal ill-health, or serious illness, or a death in 
one's family would excuse one from obedience to a summons to the 
table of the President. 

In conversation, the Chief Executive is addressed as " Mr. Presi- 
dent." In writing as " The President of the United States." 

The wife of the President enjoys the same privileges as her hus- 
band. She receives first calls from all and returns no visits. She 
receives the public on Saturday afternoons, from 3 to 5 o'clock, once 
or twice each season. She announces the hours at which she will 
receive visitors at other times. 

(Mrs. Cleveland, in addition to the public reception ordained by long 
i custom, has also given an afternoon card reception to ladies each 
winter.. She receives her guests in the East Room, and refreshments 
are served in the State Dining-room. She is assisted by a number 
of young ladies, who are stationed in groups in each of the rooms to 
meet and converse with guests. Persons desiring an interview with 
her at other times, express their wish by letter. In return they receive 
an engraved form with the date and hour indicated. These recep- 
13 



130 HANDY GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

tions are held in the Red Room (p. 72), from 12 to i o'clock generally, 
two days each week, and are entirely informal. Guests are intro- 
duced by an usher and remain but a short time. At suitable seasons 
Mrs. Cleveland is also in the custom of receiving her personal friends 
after 5 o'clock one afternoon each week.) 

As the President and wife may or may not make calls, so it is 
entirely at their option whether or not they accept invitations. For 
the last ten years the Cabinet circle has been the limit, but previous 
to that the Presidents accepted hospitalities generally. Under no cir- 
cumstances, however, will either the President or his wife cross the 
threshold of any foreign embassy or legation, although members of 
their families are privileged to do so. 

The hours for the reception of visitors at the Executive Mansion 
change with each administration. The house-rules (p. 74) are always 
posted conspicuously at the entrance. By a custom started by Presi- 
dent Cleveland, during his hrst term and continued by President 
Harrison, visitors who wish to pay their respects are received on 
Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays at i o'clock in the East Room. 
Those having business with the President arrange for interviews 
with his private secretary. 

Social Formalities at Official Houses. — The Vzce-Presi'dent and 
wife make only first calls on the President and wife. They enjoy the 
same immunity from returning calls. The same courtesy which 
recognizes the members of the Cabinet as in the official family of the 
President, includes the Senatorial circle in the official family of the 
Vice-President. The Vice-President and wife, therefore, return Sen- 
atorial calls. They receive on New Year's at their own residence, 
first official callers and then the public. Throughout the season, the 
wife of the Vice-President receives callers on Wednesday afternoons 
from 3 to 5. In conversation, the Vice-President is addressed as 
" Mr. Vice-President." 

The wife of the Speaker of the House of Representatives receives 
on Wednesday, at the same hours as the Cabinet ladies. The Speaker 
is addressed as " Mr. Speaker." 

The relative precedence of Cabinet officers has been established 
by the wording of the Presidential Succession bill. It is as follows: 
The Secretary of State, the Secretary of the Treasury, the Secretary 
of War, the Attorney-General, the Postmaster-General, the Secretary 
of the Navy, the Secretary of the Interior, and the Secretary of Agri- 
culture. The official designation, preceded by the phrase "The 

Honorable " is the correct form in writmg to any one of them. 

In conversation, a Cabmet officer is addressed as " Mr. Secretary." 



OFFICIAL ETIQUETTE. 131 

The Cabinet ladies receive the public on Wednesday afternoons, 
during the season, from 3 to 5. The name of each guest is announced 
by the butler as the hostess is approached. Each hostess is usually 
assisted, in these formal hospitalities, by a number of ladies — young 
girls predominating. They are expected to address visitors and to 
make their stay pleasant. Callers, except under exceptional circum- 
stances, do not extend their stay over ten or fifteen minutes, and it is 
not necessary that any good-byes should be exchanged with the 
hostess when leaving. As these receptions are frequently attended by 
from four to eight hundred people, who for the most part are strangers, 
the reason for the slight disregard of the usual polite form is obvious. 
No refreshments are now offered, which is also a change from the 
custom which prevailed several years ago. Visitors leave cards. 

< Callers w^ear ordinary visiting dress. The hostess and assistants 
wear high-necked gowns, however elaborate their material and make. 
This fact is mentioned because a few years ago the reverse was the 
case, and low-necked evening dresses were generally worn by the 
receiving party at afternoon receptions. At that period also, men 
frequently appeared on such occasions in full-dress evening suits, 
swallow-tail coats, etc. In fact, full dress on both men and women 
was not unusual at the President's New Year reception, a dozen 
years ago, under the impression then current that street clothes were 
not in keeping with a function second to none in point of ceremony 
from our standpoint, and which. was attended by the Diplomatic 
Corps in court dress or in dazzling military or naval uniforms. Cus- 
toms in these matters have changed so entirely that a violation of the 
accepted fashion makes of the offender a subject for ridicule. The 
proper costume for a woman to wear to the President's New Year 
reception is her best visiting-dress with bonnet or hat, the same that 
she would wear at an afternoon reception. A man will dress for the 
President's New Year reception as he will for any other ceremonious 
daylight event. Neither low-necked gowns nor dress suits are per- 
missible until after six o'clock. 

The same proprieties of modern custom in dress should be ob- 
served when attending evening receptions at the White House or else- 
where. Evening dress is imperative, which, in the case of women, 
may mean as elaborate or as simple a toilet as the wearer may select, 
but it implies an uncovered head. Bonnets or hats must not be worn. 

By a rule adopted during the first Cleveland administration, the 
Cabinet ladies do not return calls generally, but do send their cards 



132 HANDY GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

once or twice each season as an acknowledgment. The Cabinet 
ladies make the first call upon the ladies of the Supreme Court circle, 
the families of Senators, and the families of foreign ambassadors. 

Certain days of the week are set apart by custom for making calls 
upon particular groups, and no mistake should be made in this 
respect. The ladies of the Supreme Court families receive callers on 
Monday afternoons. Congressional families on Tuesdays, the Cabinet 
families on Wednesdays, and the Senatorial families on Thursdays, 
with the exception of those residing on Capitol Hill, who observe the 
day of that section, which is Monday. By virtue of another old cus- 
tom, Tuesday is K Street day; Thursday calling day for upper H 
and I streets; Friday for residents of upper F and G streets, and 
Saturday for Connecticut Avenue and vicinity. Calling hours are 
from 3 to 6. 

The discussion which has been going on for years, and is now as 
far from settlement as ever, as to whether Supreme Court Justices 
and families pay the first call to Senators and families, or vice-versa, 
is only of interest to the stranger as a phase of Washington life, 
showing the grave importance given to these points by some ofhcial 
households and of the absolute indifference with which they are 
viewed by others. 

The Diplomatic Corps consists of four ambassadors, representing 
Great Britain, France, Italy, and Germany, and twenty-six ministers 
plenipotentiary, of which a circumstantial list will be found at the end 
of this book. They are ranked in the order of their seniority. Each 
embassy and legation has a corps of secretaries and attaches. The 
British Ambassador, Sir Julian Pauncefote, is the dean of the corps, 
having been the first ambassador appointed to this country. The dip- 
lomat who has had the longest service here, and who, until the crea- 
tion of ambassadors, was the dean of the corps, is Senor Romero, the 
Mexican Minister. Official etiquette as regards the corps has changed 
since the coming of ambassadors. Ambassadors are given prece- 
dence by ministers. By virtue of long-established custom, to quote 
Thomas Jefferson, " foreign ministers, from the necessity of making 
themselves known, pay the first visit to the ministers of the nation, 
which is returned." Ambassadors claim that they only call on the 
President because that is the habit of European countries. It is 
generally understood that all persons, official or otherwise, pay the 
first call to the embassies. The ladies of the Diplomatic Corps have 
no special day on which to receive callers, each household making its 
own rules in this respect and announcing the date at the proper time. 



XI. 

CHURCHES, ART GALLERIES, THE- 
ATERS, CLUBS, ETC. 



Washington has a great number of Churches of every denomination 
and in all parts of the city. Only a few of the most conspicuous of 
these need be mentioned. The oldest are Rock Creek Church (p. 151), 
near the Soldiers' Home; Christ Church (p. 58), near the Navy Yard, 
and St. John's (p. no), on Lafayette Square. All these are Episcopal, 
and have been elsewhere described. Other prominent Episcopal 
churches are : Epiphany (G Street, near Fourteenth), which, like 
several other church societies in the city, has a suburban chapel ; the 
Church of the Ascension, at Massachusetts Avenue and Twelfth 
Street ; old St. John's is prominent in Georgetown ; and St. James', 
at Massachusetts Avenue and Eighth Street, N. E., on Capitol Hill, 
is very highly ritualistic. The Roman Catholics have many fine 
churches and a very large influence in Washington. (See their uni- 
versities.) Their oldest church is St. Aloysius, at North Capitol and 
S streets; and St. Matthew's, at Fifteenth .and H streets, is probably 
the most fashionable. Congregationalism is represented most prom- 
inently by the First Church, at G and Tenth streets, which has 
always been a leader in religious philanthropy, especially toward the 
Freedmen. The Presbyterian churches are among the oldest and 
largest. The leading one, perhaps, is the First, which remains in 
Four-and-a-half Street, and is still under the care of the venerable 
Dr. Byron Sunderland. This is the church attended by President 
Cleveland. An offshoot from it was the New York Avenue Church , 
whose big house is so conspicuous in the angle between that avenue and 
H Street at Twelfth. Doctor Bartlett, Doctor Paxton, and its present 
pastor. Doctor Radcliffe, have all been celebrated preachers there. 

(133) 



134 HANDY GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

Out of this has sprung the Gurley Memorial, near Seventh Street and 
the Boundary; and the Church of the Covenant, whose great square 
tower is a conspicuous ornament on Connecticut Avenue. Well- 
known Methodist churches are the Metropolitan, down in Four-and- 
a-half Street; the Foundry Church, at G and Fourteenth streets, 
which President Hayes attended ; and the Hamline, at Ninth and P 
streets. A leading Baptist church is Calvary, at Eighth and H 
streets. The Swedenborgians have a conspicuous white stone build- 
ing at Cochran and Sixteenth streets ; and the Unitarians, the well- 
known Church of All Souls, at Fourteenth and L streets. The 
Universalist meeting house is at L and Thirteenth streets. The 
"Christian" society, of which President Garfield was a member, 
worships in its Memorial Chureh on Vermont Avenue, between N 
and O streets. The Lutheran Memorial Church, on Thomas Circle, 
is foremost in that denomination, and the service is English. There 
are two Hebrew synagogues. Colored churches are numerous, 
chiefly of the Methodist and Baptist persuasions ; in the former the 
strongest is Asbury, at Eleventh and K streets, and in the latter, the 
Abyssinian, Vermont Avenue and R Street, takes the lead. 

The Art Galleries, properly speaking, are two in number ; but 
those interested in statuary,, pictures, and ceramics will find a great 
quantity of all these displayed at the Capitol, in various department 
buildings, on the walls of the new Library of Congress (p. 49), and 
at the National Museum. First on the list, of course, is 

The Corcoran Art Gallery. This has no connection with the 
Government, although its trustees are given a place in the Congres- 
sional Directory. It is wholly the result of the philanthropy of a 
wealthy citizen, William Wilson Corcoran, who died in 1893. " He 
early decided," it has been well said, "that at least one-half of his 
money accumulations should be held for the welfare of men, and he 
kept his self-imposed obligation so liberally that his charities, private 
and public, exceed the amount of $5,000,000, and that 'he left no 
aspect of human life untouched by his beneficence.' " The Corcoran 
Gallery was opened in 1869, in the noble building opposite the War 
Department. This will soon be superseded by the splendid new 
gallery, on Seventeenth Street, at New York Avenue, facing the 
Executive grounds. The Corcoran donations, including the old lot 
and building, have been $1,600,000; and about $350,000 have been 
paid by the trustees for paintings, besides what has been given. 
A large number of casts of classic statues, famous bas-reliefs, and 




THE CHURCH OF THE COVENANT — Connecticut Avenue and N Street. 
(See page 123.) 



CHURCHES, ART GALLERIES, ETC. 135 

smaller carvings in this gallery, are not only beautiful in themselves, 
but of great value to students. 

The new building has a length of 265 feet in Seventeenth Street, 
140 feet in New York Avenue, and 120 feet in E Street. In archi- 
tecture it is Neo-Greek, after the plans of Ernest Flagg of New 
York, and the external walls, above the granite basement, are of 
Georgia marble, white, pure, and brilliant. There are no windows 
on the second, or gallery, floor of the fagade, all the light for the 
exhibition of the pictures coming from the skylight in the roof. The 
only ornaments of this front are about the doorway, which is elabor- 
ately carved, and under the eaves of the roof, where the names of 
the world's famous artists are inscribed in severely simple letters. 
Entering the front door, the visitor is confronted by a grand stair- 
case, on the farther side of the great statuary hall, 170 feet long, 
which occupies the ground floor. This is so lighted by openings 
through the gallery floor that, for the exhibition of casts in delicate 
lights, it can not be surpassed in any other gallery of the world. The 
second, or gallery floor, where the principal pictures will be hung, 
under the great glass roof, is supported by Doric columns of Indiana 
limestone, above which are Ionic cohimns supporting the roof. On 
this floor are also four gallery rooms, sixty- one feet by twenty -eight, 
and numerous small rooms for the exhibition of water-colors and 
objects of art. On the New York Avenue side is a semicircular 
lecture hall, with a platform and rising floor to the side walls, which, 
with a good skylight, make this Toom an excellent one for private 
exhibitions. Attached to the gallery is an art school, which will 
have two well -lighted rooms fronting to the north, with accommoda- 
tions for a large number of pupils. It is the intention to give here 
annual art exhibitions of the work of local and other American 
artists and students. 

Among the older and more prominent paintings in the Corcoran 
collection are the following: "The Tornado" by Thomas Cole, 
" The Watering-Place " by Adolphe Schreyer, " Nedjma-Odalisque " 
by Gaston Casim-ir Saint Pierre, "Edge of the Forest" by Asher 
Brown Durand, " The Vestal Tuccia " by Hector Le Roux, " Mercy's 
Dream" by Daniel Huntington, "Niagara Falls" by Frederick 
Edwin Church, "Caesar Dead" by Jean Leon Gerome, "On the 
Coast of New Jersey" by William T. Richards, "The Helping 
Hand" by Emile Renouf, "The Death of Moses" by Alexander 
Cabanel, "Charlotte Corday in Prison" by Charles Louis Muller, 
" The Passing Regiment " by Edward Detaille, " Wood Gatherers " 
by Jean Baptiste Camille Corot, " The Forester's Home " by Ludwig 



136 HANDY GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

Knatis, "Virgin and Child" by Murillo, "Christ Bound" by Van 
Dyck, "Landscape" by George Inness, "The Schism" by Jean 
George Vibert, " The Pond of the Great Oak" by Jules Dupre, "A 
Hamlet of the Seine near Vernon " by Charles Frangois Daubigny, 
" Landscape, with Cattle," by Emile Van Marcke, " Joan of Arc m 
Infancy " by Jean Jacques Henner, "The Banks of the Adige " by 
Martin Rico, "Twilight" by Thomas Alexander Harrison, "The 
Wedding Festival" by Eugene Louis Gabriel Isabey, "The 
Approaching Storm " by Narcisse Virgile Diaz de la Pena, " Moon- 
light in Holland" by Jean Charles Cazin, "Approaching Night" by 
Max Wey, "Sunset in the Woods" by George Inness, "El Bravo 
Toro " by Aime Nicholas Morot. Some noteworthy late additions 
are: "The Landscape of Historical Bladensburg " (in 1SS7); the 
" First Railway in New York" by E. L. Henry; and Charles Gutherz' 
(Paris, 1S94) great canvas of the "Bering Sea Arbitration Court," 
which is accompanied by an explanation and Tvcy to the portraits. 

The Tayloe Collection is a bequest from the family of Benjamin 
Ogle Tayloe, whose richly-furnished home is still standing on Lafay- 
ette Square (p. iii). It consists of some 200 or more objects of art, 
ornament and curious interest, including marbles by Powers, Thor- 
waldsen, Greenough, and Canova; portraits by Gilbert Stuart, Hunt- 
ington, and foreign artists, and many other paintings ; a large num- 
ber of bronze objects and pieces of furniture, including W^ashing- 
ton's card-table and other pieces that belonged to eminent men, and 
a large series of porcelain, glass, ivory, and other objects, which are 
both historically and artistically interesting. A special catalogue for 
this collection is sold at 5 cents. 

The gallery is open on week days from 9.30 a. m. till 4.00 p. m. 
On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays an admission fee of 25 cents 
is charged; on other days admission is free; also on Friday evenings, in 
winter, from 7.30 till 10.00, admission free. From July 15th to Sep- 
tember 15th, the gallery is closed. A catalogue is sold at 25 cents. 

The Waggaman Gallery ought surely to be examined by all 
cultivated travelers. It is at No. 3300 O Street, Georgetown, and is 
easily reached by either the F Street or Pennsylvania Avenue street- 
cars. This gallery is the private acquisition of Mr. E. Waggaman, 
and contains a large number of fine paintings, the specialty being 
Dutch water-colors, where the Hollandish style and choice of subjects 
are well exhibited. The most striking and valuable part of the col- 
lection, however, is undoubtedly that representing Japanese work in 
pottery, stone, and metal. The series of tea jars, antique porcelains, 
and modern wares, showing rare glazes and the most highly-prized 
colors, is extensive and well chosen; and a wonderful array* of 
bronzes and artistic work in other metals in the form of swords, 
sword-guards, bells, ^itensils of various forms and capacities, and dec- 
orative compositions, excites the enthusiasm of connoisseurs in this 



CHURCHES, ART GALLERIES, ETC. 137 

department. The gems of this superb cabinet, however, are the 
articles of jade, in which this collection has few superiors; among 
which the translucent plaques of carved jade, if not unique in the 
United States, are certainly unsurpassed. A large number of ivory- 
carvings, teakwood stands of exquisite design, and other curiosi- 
ties of oriental art and workmanship, make this gallery notable. 

Visitors are admitted upon Thursdays, during January, Febru- 
ary, March, and April, between ii and 4 o'clock of each week, by 
paying 50 cents for each admission toward a charitable fund. 

The magnificent Walters' Gallej'ies in Baltimore (No. 5 Mount 
Vernon Place) are so easily and frequently visited from Washington, 
and are of such importance, that they ought to be mentioned here. 
They are the private collection of the late William T. Walters, kindly 
opened to the public during certain winter months, by his son, Henry 
Walters; and they excel not only anything in America, but in special 
lines, as oriental porcelains, bronzes, etc., and certain classes of pic- 
tures, surpass anything else anywhere. The collection of modern 
paintings is unequaled for quality in the whole world. These art- 
treasures are visible each AVednesday, from February to May; and 
tickets may be had in Washington of Harris & Shaler, 11 13 Pennsyl- 
vania Avenue. 

The Theaters in Washington attract the finest traveling com- 
panies, including occasional grand opera. The newest and most 
ornate house is the Lafayette Square Opera House, occupying an 
historic site (p. iii) on Lafayette Square. Another large theater 
is Allen's (formerly Albaugh's) Opera House, on Fifteenth Street, at 
the corner of E Street, one block -south of Pennsylvania Avenue. The 
new National Theater, on Pennsylvania Avenue, between Thirteenth 
and Fourteenth streets, is of great capacity and comfort, and holds 
the popularity it gained long ago. The Academy of Music is another 
well-known house, at Ninth and D streets. Kernan's Lyceum, at 
1014 Pennsylvania Avenue, gives lively variety shows. 

Metzerott Hall and Willard's Hall are the principal places for lec- 
tures, and the like, but scientific lectures are usually heard in the hall 
at the National Museum or in the lecture room of the Cosmos Club. 

Cojive7ition Hall is an immense arched apartment over a market 
where New York Avenue crosses L and Fifth streets, and is intended 
for the use of the great conventions that more and more seek to meet 
in this city, and for inauguration balls, fairs, and similar occasions 
where vast congregations must be accommodated. In winter it is a 
skating rink. 

The Clubs of the capital are not among its " sights," but should 



138 HANDY GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

receive a few words. Most prominent among them is the Metropol- 
itan, which has already been characterized (p. 117). Next in social 
importance, probably, is the Army and Navy, which has a hand- 
some six-story building opposite the southeastern corner of Farragut 
Square. Its triangular lot has enabled the architect to make a 
series of very charming principal rooms, in the northwestern front, 
where the sunshine streams in nearly all day. These and the many 
connecting apartments are luxuriously furnished and adorned with 
pictures, including original portraits of a dozen or more of the princi- 
pal commanders of the army and navy, from Paul Jones to W. T. 
Sherman. Only those identified with some military organization are 
eligible to membership, but the club is very liberal in extending a 
welcome to visiting militiamen, foreign military men, and others 
suitably introduced. One feature of this club is the informal pro- 
fessional lecture given to the members once a month by some expert. 
The Unh'ersity is a smaller social club having a house at the 
corner of Seventeenth and I streets. T/ie Cosmos has been referred 
to elsewhere (p. 115); and the Columbia Athletic Club is a large asso- 
ciation of young men, partly social and partly athletic, which has a fine 
new house and gymnasium on F Street, and a field in the gardens 
of the old Van Ness mansion (p. 95). The Coutitry Club, near 
Tennallytown, and the Chevy Chase Club have already been men- 
tioned. Allied to them, within the city, are several clubs of bicycle 
riders, tennis and ball players, and boatmen, Washington being a 
place famous for oarsmen. The two women's clubs must not be for- 
gotten: One is the fashionable Washington Club, on H Street, oppo- 
site the French Embassy, and the other the Working Women's 
Club, a purely social organization, at No. 606 Eleventh Street, com- 
posed of women who earn their living — physicians, journalists, stenog- 
raphers, etc. Both these clubs give teas, musicals, and other femi- 
nine entertainments. The Alibi is a coterie of well-fed gentlemen 
who give charming feasts, largely of their own cooking, and cultivate 
a refined Bohemianism; while the Gridiron is a dining club of news- 
paper men, who have a jolly dinner among themselves once a month, 
and an annual spread to which all the great men available are in- 
vited, and where most of them are good-naturedly guyed. 



XII. 
EXCURSIONS ABOUT WASHINGTON. 



1. To Mount Vernon. 

The pilgrimage to the home and tomb of George Washington at 
Mount Vernon is regarded by most Americans as a duty as well as 
a pleasure, and foreigners look upon it as a compliment due to the 
nation. It forms, moreover, a delightful excursion. 

Mount Vernon is on the right bank of the Potomac, sixteen miles 
below Washington. The lands about it were a part of an extensive 
^grant to John Washington, the first of the family who came to 
America in 1656, and they descended rather fortuitously, in 1752, to 
George, then hardly more than a lad. He married in 1759, and 
continued to develop and beautify the estate until the breaking out 
of the Revolution, when the ability he had shown in the Virginia 
militia called him to the service of- the United Colonies. He returned 
to Mount Vernon at the close of the war, but, to his grief, was 
obliged soon to quit its beloved acres for the cares of the first Presi- 
dency of the Republic. During this interval of five years an almost 
continuous stream of visitors had been entertained there, and among 
them were many foreigners of note as well as representative Ameri- 
cans of the time. Finally, in 1797, the great commander was released 
from the cares of government, and enabled to retire, to pass, as 
he hoped, many quiet and enjoyable years upon his plantation. A 
most interesting account of life at Mount Vernon and its neighbor- 
hood at this time may be found in an illustrated article by Constance 
Cary Harrison in The Century ior April, 1889. Only two years were 
vouchsafed him, however, for on December 14, 1799, lie died of mem- 
branous croup (or barbarous medical treatment) following exposure 
.in a storm. He was buried upon his own estate, and the family 
declined to accept the subsequent invitation of Congress to transfer 

(139) 



140 HANDY GUIDE TO WASHTNGTOM. 

the body to the Capitol at Washington, This estate and Washington's 
other property, estimated by himself as worth $530,000, descended, at 
the death of Mrs. AVashington, here, in 1802, to Bushrod Washington, 
then a Justice of the Supreme Court, who died in 1829, leaving the 
estate to his nephew^, John Augustine Washington, from whom it 
passed by legacy, in 1832, to his widow, and from her, in 1855, to her 
son. He proposed to sell it, when a Southern lady, Miss Ann Paijiela 
Cunningham, secured the refusal of it, and, after failing to interest 
Congress in her proposal that the Government should buy and preserve 
it as a memorial, succeeded in arousing the women of the country. 
An association of these women, with representatives from every State, 
w^as incorporated by Virginia in 1856, and it paid $200,000 for the 
property (some 200 acres), covenanting to hold it in perpetuity. The 
admission fee of 25 cents goes to the payment of current expenses. 

The Mount Vernon Railroad Company is running cars and trains 
to Mount Vernon and to Arlington National Cemetery, direct from 
Pennsylvania Avenue and Thirteen-and-a-half Street. This is an 
electric road, and passes along Twelfth Street, S. W., and Maryland 
Avenue to and across the Long Bridge, and then through Alexandria, 
taking up or leaving passengers at any street corner. A trip to 
Mount Vernon by this route, including the time needed for a satis- 
factory sight of Washington's Mansion and Tomb, need not consume 
more than three hours; and cars will run from the city terminus to 
Arlington in fifteen minutes. 

The direct water route to Mount Vernon is by the comfort- 
able steamer "Charles Macalester," built for the association, which 
leaves the wharves at the foot of Seventh Street daily except Sunday, 
at 10.00 a. m., and returns at 2.30 p. m.; in summer the hour is 9.00 
o'clock, and there is an afternoon trip, returning late in the evening. 
Only round-trip tickets are sold (75 cents), including admission 
(25 cents) to the grounds. This steamer also goes on to Notley Hall 
and Marshall Hall (p. 144). 

The Potomac River trip is one of great enjoyment on a fine day. 
As the steamer moves out into the stream, it rides in a broad tidal 
channel dredged for harbor purposes by the Government and kept 
full by a tidal reservoir above. The long artificial island Avhich sep 
arates this harbor from the river itself will hereafter become a park. 
On the city shore, immediately below the wharves, appears the 
pleasant parade of the military post on Greenleaf's Point, 

Washington Barracks, or The Arsenal, as it is still more com- 



Washington, Alexandria 
&L Mt. Vernon Railway 

IS OPERATING TRAINS FROM 

PENNSYLVANIA AVE. AND 134 ST. 

EVERY HOUR TO 

Arlington National 
Cemetery, 
Alexandria, 
Mt. Vernon, 
Saint Asaph and 
Alexandria Island 
Race Tracks 

AS WELL AS OTHER POINTS ALONG ITS LINES. 

Tourists can leave Washington (Pennsylvania Ave. and 

i3>4 St.), see Mt. Vernon thoroughly, and 

return in three hours. 

Time from Washing:ton to IMt. Vernon, 45 minutes. 
Time from Washington to Arlington, 1 5 minutes. 

Passengers can take its cars in Washington at all street 
crossings north of Long Bridge. Trains also stop at all 
street crossings in Alexandria. 

For schedule in effect, see time cards or daily newspapers. 

G. E. ABBOT, B. T. FLINT, GEORGE R PHILLIPS, 

PRES'T AND GEN'L MGR. GEWLSUP'T. GEN • L PASS' R AGT. 




EXCURSIONS ABOUT IVASHINGrON. 141 

monly called, is a military post on the peninsula between the Poto- 
mac and its eastern branch. Its land entrance is at the foot of Four- 
and-one-half Street, and is reached by both the Metropolitan com- 
pany's street cars and the cable line on Seventh Street. A trifling set- 
tlement styled Carrollsburg, with an earthen breast-high battery, 
existed on the extremity of this point, which was called Turkey 
Buzzard or Greenleaf's Point when the city was laid out; and in 1803 
the peninsula was reserved for military purposes as far as T Street 
S. W. What few buildings were there in 18 14 were destroyed by the 
British, who lost a large number of men by dropping a "port-fire" 
into a dry well where a great quantity of navy powder had been 
hidden, thus producing an impromptu volcano. In 1826 the northern 
end of the reservation, as far back as U Street, denoted by the jog 
in the river wall on the Potomac side, was walled off as a site for a 
district penitentiary. A building was erected having a yard with a 
high inclosing wall, and here, in 1865, were confined the conspirators 
in the assassination of Lincoln. Four of them were hung and buried 
there, and the others sent to distant prisons. The body of J. Wilkes 
Booth and later of Wirz (p. 57) were also buried there. 

Exactly where this execution and the interments were made is not 
accurately known, but it is believed that the gallows was planted 
near the circular flower bed now in front of the commandant's door, 
and that the bodies were buried near its foot. All were soon after- 
ward removed, the penitentiary was swept away, the limits of the 
military reservation were advanced to P Street, and, in 188 1, the 
arsenal was abolished. 

The verdant parade, with its flag, and guns, and avenue of big 
trees; its former storehouses, which during the war contained enor- 
mous quantities of arms and ammunition, and are now used as 
barracks; and its quadrangle of officers' quarters at the extreme 
point, make a pretty picture as we float past. Its present occupants 
are five companies of the Fourth Artillery. As it is the headquarters 
of that regiment, it has the band, and during the pleasant half of the 
year, guard-mounting at 9.00 a. m.,and dress-parade at 5.00 p.m. 
are conducted with much ceremony, while battery drills can be seen 
almost any morning at ten or eleven o'clock. 

The Anacostia River then opens broadly at the left, and the 
navy yard and southern front of the city are exposed to view. On 
the further bank looms up the great Govenuiient Hospital for the 
Insane, which cost $1,000,000, and is one of the finest institutions of 
its kind in the world. It is primarily intended for demented men of 
the army and navy ; and there Lieutenant Gushing, of torpedo- 
boat fame, ended his blighted days. 

The low level grounds of Giesboro Poiiit, bordering the river 
below the asylum, were occupied during the war as cavalry camps 
and drilling stations. Opposite it is the broad estuary of Four-Mile 
Run. Alexandria now comes into view. 
14 



143 HANDY GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

Alexandria began, under the name of Bellhaven, in 1748, and had 
a promising early career. "It rapidly became an important port, and 
developed an extensive foreign trade. It was well known in the 
great English commercial cities. General Washington, Governor 
Lee, and other prominent Virginians interested themselves in its 
development, and at one time it was thought it would become a 
greater city than Baltimore. Warehouses crowded with tobacco, and 
flour and corn, lined its docks, and fleets of merchant vessels filled its 
harbor." The founding and advancement of Washington and the 
building of railroads, which diverted traffic to inland channels, 
destroyed its importance, and the coming of Civil War ruined it 
socially. Here the Union troops began their " invasion " of Virginia 
soil, and here fell Ellsworth — the first notable victim of the conflict. 
The old hotel where he pulled down the Confederate flag is nbw 
hidden away in the reconstructed Marshall House. 

Alexandrians can point out to strangers many quaint and inter-i 
esting places, houses, monuments, and relics in the town, which has 
little other interest for the traveler; the principal curiosity is Christ 
Church, in which Washington's family and all the respectable per- 
sons of his neighborhood used to worship. It has been kept as near 
as may be as it was in those days ; and the old square pew in which 
" His Excellency, the General," used to sit, gazing up at the high 
pulpit during the long and strong sermons, is still pointed out. Ani 
afternoon can be spent profitably in Alexandria under good guidance. 

The steamer stops at Alexandria both going and coming. There! 
is also a ferry running a boat hourly between Alexandria and Wash- 
ington, and the railroad runs trains' back and forth at short intervals ;i 
two ferries cross the river, and electric cars run southward to Mount 
Vernon, and northward to Arlington and Georgetown, so that the 
town is easy to get into and out of. 

Just below Alexandria is the deep bay called Htinting Creek, ati 
the head of which was Fort Lyon, one of the strongest of the Civil 
War fortifications. This creek gave its name to the Washington 
plantation before Lawrence Washington named it " Mount Vernon ' 
in compliment to an admiral with whom he had served. At its moui '1 
r& Jones Pointy where the southern corner-post of the original dis- 
trict was placed by Washington with Masonic ceremonies, anl 
where the men of that day proposed that a great monument should j 
be erected. On the Maryland side of the Potomac, toward which thei 
boat now heads, was another commanding earthwork. Fort Footr 
of great military importance. This fort was kept in repair for man) 
years after the war, and the United States still owns its site. Tin 
next stop is made, about twelve miles below the city, at Fort IVas/i 



EXCURSIONS ABOUT WA SHING TON. 143 

ington, an old stone fort on a point of the Maryland shore, within 
sight of Mount Vernon and commanding the channel. Tradition 
says that the early explorers of the Potomac found an Indian 
"castle" here, and that Washington advised the building of a fort 
on this headland, as soon as the District of Columbia was created. 
L'Enfant drew the plans as his last public work, and a strong fort- 
ress was begun, but was blown up by the Americans in 1812, when 
they heardf that the British were coming. It was rebuilt and com- 
'spleted in 1824, at a cost of $560,000, but has long been disarmed. 

The approach to Mount Vertioji impresses one with the sightli- 
ness of the situation and the dignity of the mansion, which shines 
among the trees from an elevation 1 50 feet above the landing wharf. 
■^ . The Tomb of Washington is the first object of attention, and 
stands immediately at the head of the path from the landing. Its 
position, small dimensions, and plain form of brick were dictated by 
Washington in his will. The back part of it, extending into the bank, 
and closed by iron doors, entombs the bodies of about thirty members 
and relatives of the family. The front part, closed by plain iron gates, 
( through which anyone may look, contains two plain sarcophagi, 
each excavated from a single block of marble, which were made and 
presented by John Struthers, of Philadelphia, in 1837. That one in 
the center of the little inclosure holds the mortal remains of the 
Father of his Country, within the' mahogany coffin in which they 
were originally placed. At his left is the body of his "consort," 
Martha Washington. The old family tomb, in which both were first 
buried, is to be found at the right of the path on the way to the 
house. In front of the present tomb are the graves of some of 
Washington's nearest descendants, marked by inscribed obelisks. 

A paved walk leads up the slope past the barn, built by Lawrence 
Washington, in 1733, of imported bricks, and the coach house, where 
may still be seen the clumsy old family coach, that was thought so 
fine in its day; beyond it is the kitchen, with a capacious fireplace, 
and connected by a curving colonnade, along which went the glorious 
procession of cooks and waiters bearing dinner, with the house itself 
— the home of America's hero and model. 

The Mansion is not a large house, nor a handsome one architec- 
turally. It is made of wood, has two stories and an attic, and is 
ninety-six feet long, and thirty feet wide. The whole eastern front 
is shaded by a paved porch extended outward from the eaves, sup- 
ported by eight plain, square posts, and paved with stone at the 
level of the ground. This house will not compare with Arlington for 



144 HANDY GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

appearances, outside or inside, as a building; and it loses, moreover, 
in our estimation, because we regard it mainly from the river side; 
whereas the western, or roadway side, is far more interesting as an 
architectural sight, with its curving wings and fine doorway. It is 
this side, no doubt, that the Washington s would have deemed the 
"front" of the house, had they ever defined it. The rooms are 
mostly small and low, and only the simplest ornamentation of the 
woodwork, ceilings, and mantels appears; yet everything is gen- 
uine, neat, and cosy. It was by no means the finest mansion of 
its day, but it was snug and well provided, and no doubt its owner 
was quite contented wnth it, caring more, after all, for things out of 
doors than in, and more concerned with having his house comfort- 
able, and able to accommodate his friends, than to have it appear a 
palace. It is the undulating lawns, the noble trees, and gracefully 
disposed shrubberies, with the vistas between them of the broad 
river and far-away Maryland hills, that will attract the visitor 
most; and he will delight to wander through the "vineyard inclo- 
sure," behind the kitchen and stable, and then go over to the flower 
garden and revel in the roses that grow almost all the year round, 
between dense hedges of box defining the pathways and beds. 

A considerable quantity of furniture that belonged to the Wash- 
ington family came into possession of the association with the house ; 
and many more articles of furniture and ornament have been 
acquired since. The plan w^as early adopted of assigning a single 
room to a State, which placed within it furniture and household arti- 
cles of that time. It is needless in this book to go into a description 
of w^hat these rooms are or their contents, since nearly everj^thing is 
fully labeled; and if any further details are needed by the visitor, let 
him buy one of the pamphlets issued by the association, and thus 
add to its funds as well as increase his information — two very desir- 
able objects gained for a quarter of a dollar! 

There is no eating-house at Mount Vernon, though one may buy 
cakes and a glass of milk in the old kitchen. Excellent meals may 
be had upon the steamboat, however. 

The electric cars come to the rear gate of the estale, three min- 
utes' Avalk from the mansion, and make a very pleasant run through 
the woods, often within view of the river, then pass through Alex- 
andria, by the railway station, and on across Long Bridge into 
Washington at Pennsjdvania Avenue and Fourteenth Street; or one 
can go by electric road from Alexandria to Arlington and Georgetown. 
't Marshall Hall, the end of the steamboat's' route, is an old estate 
of that name on the Maryland shore, some miles below Mount Ver- 
non, which is now a summer pleasure resort, with restaurants, dan- 
cing platforms, swings, merry-go-roun-ds, and similar amusements. 




THE McCLELLAN GATE AT ARLINGTON. 



EXCURSIONS ABOUT WA SHING TON. 145 

It is a lively but orderly place, much frequented in summer. River- 
view and Not ley Hall are similar riverside summer resorts reached 
by the steamboats. 

2, To Arlington and Fort Myer. 

The next excursion after Mount Vernon is certainly that to 
Arlington. The way lies through Georgetown to the Union sta- 
tion, at the end of the Pennsylvania Avenue cable line, where an 
electric car can be taken across the Potomac to the gates of Arling- 
ton, on the heights of Virginia; or, if you prefer, to the parade of 
Fort Myer, whence it is only ten minutes' walk to the famous family 
mansion of Custis and Lee. 

The history of this old home of the colonial aristocracy is not 
only closely identified with the annals of early Virginia, but with the 
political development of the country. It was bought, as a tract of 
i,i6o acres, for p^ii.ooo, by John Custis, who, early in the eighteenth 
century, came from the Eastern shore to live on his new property. 
His was one of the " first families of Virginia ' in every sense of the 
word, and possessed great wealth; but he had various domestic 
troubles, one of which was, that his high-spirited son, Daniel Parke 
Custis, insisted upon neglecting a high-born heiress, prepared by his 
parents for his future consort, and marrying, instead, pretty Martha 
Dandridge, the belle of Williamsburg, the colonial capital. The old 
gentleman was very angry, until one day, we are told, Martha Dan- 
dridge met him at a social gathering, and fairly captivated him. 
The marriage was made and prospered, and, when old Custis died, 
his son and his wife came into possession and residence here at 
Arlington, where Daniel soon died, leaving Martha a young widow 
with two children, John Parke and Eleanor Custis. His will entailed 
this estate to his son, and divided his other property, the wife receiv- 
ing, as her share, lands and securities worth, perhaps, $100,000. In 
due time this rich and blooming widow re-entered society, where 
she presently became acquainted with a colonial colonel, who had 
recently achieved military fame in Braddock's expedition against 
Fort Duquesne. He lived with his mother at Mount Vernon, only 
fifteen miles below, and his name was George Washington. It was 
not long before he had wooed and won the charming and opulent 
widow, who laid aside her weeds and went with her two children to 
live at her husband's home. Together they managed and cared for 
the Arlington estate, until its young owner should come of age, and 
both were often there. The daughter died, but the son grew to 
manhood, received his noble property, married a Calvert, and served 
upon his step-father's staff during the latter part of the Revolution. 
Then he, too, died (1781), and his two infant children were adopted 
by Washington and deeply loved. They kept their own names, how- 
ever, and Nelly, who seemed to have inherited the beauty of her 



140 HANDY GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

grandmother, married Major Lewis, a Virginian. Her brother, 
George Washington Parke Custis, upon reaching his majority, 
inherited and took possession of Arlington, at the beginning of the 
present century; and immediately began the erection of the present 
mansion, which, therefore. Washington himself, never saw, since he 
died December 13, 1799, while this house was not completed until 
1803. A few months afterward, Mr. Custis married Mary Lee Fitz- 
hugh, one of the Randolphs, and four children were born to them, 
but only one survived, a daughter, Mary. The Custis family lived 
at Arlington, improving and beautifying the estate, winning the 
good opinion of all who knew them, and entertaining handsomely 
until the death of Mrs. Custis, in 1S53, and of her husband, the last 
male of his family, in 1857. The estate then fell to the daughter, 
who, meanwhile, had married a young army officer, Robert E. Lee, 
son of " Lighthorse Harry" Lee, the dashing cavalryman of the 
Revolution, entwining into the story of the estate another strand of 
the best fabric of Virginian society. Arlington immediately became 
the home of this officer, and when the Civil War came, and Colonel 
Lee went out of the Union with his State, his greatest personal sac- 
rifice, no doubt, was the thought of leaving Arlington. Indeed, so 
little did he foresee that he was going to be the leader of a four-years' 
struggle, that he took away none of the furniture, and very few even 
of the great number of relics of Washington, many of intrinsic as 
well as historic 'value, which the house contained. Federal troops at 
once took possession of the estate, and everything of historical value 
was seized by the Government, so that most of the collection, with 
other relics, is now to be seen at the National Museum. Arlington 
could not be confiscated, because entailed; but the non-payment of 
taxes made a pretext for its sale, when it was bought in for !i^23,ooo, 
by the United States Government, which established the mili- 
tary cemetery here in 1864. When, several years after the war, 
G. W. Custis Lee inherited the estate, he successfully disputed, in 
the Supreme Court, the legality of the tax-sale, but at once trans- 
ferred his restored rights to the Government for $150,000, which was 
jmid him in 1884. 

Arlington is a fine example of the architecture of its era, and 
resembles Jefferson's mansion at Monticello. Its upper floor is occu- 
pied by the official in charge, but the lower rooms are mainly empty, 
and visitors are content with a glance at them, preferring the open 
air and light of the lawns and gardens about the house, and the 
groves that now cover the adjacent fields, which, since 1864, have 
been devoted to the sacred purposes of a 

National Military Cemetery. Here, behind the inscribed arch 
of the great gate, made from the marble pillars of the old War Depart- 
ment building, and under the oaks that belonged to the greatest of 
" the enemy," sleep almost a score of thousands of LTnion soldiers, and 
every year sees the eternal enlistment in their ranks of many more. 



! 1 



EXCURSIONS ABOUT WASHINGTON. 147 

On the bluff overlooking the spacious and beautiful landscape 
toward the river and city, are the graves and monuments of some of 
the Union's latest and most distinguished defenders. Here lies 
Lieut. -Gen. Philip H. Sheridan, beneath a grand memorial stone; 
Adm. David D. Porter, Maj.-Gen. George H. Crook, whose mon- 
ument bears a bronze bas-relief of the surrender of the Apache Gero- 
nimo; Maj.-Gen. Abner Doubleday, the historian of Gettysburg; Gen- 
erals Meigs, Ricketts, Benit, and Watkins; Colonel Berdan of "sharp- 
shooter " fame, and others. In the rear of the mansion is a miniature 
temple upon whose columns are engraved the names of great Ameri- 
can soldiers; and a lovely amphitheater of columns, vine-embowered, 
where Decoration Day ceremonies and open-air burial services may 
be conducted. Near it is a great granite mausoleum in which repose 
the bones of 2,111 unknown soldiers gathered after the war from the 
battle-field of Bull Run, and thence to the Rappahannock. It is sur- 
rounded by cannon and bears a memorial inscription. A driveway 
and paved footwalk crosses the cemetery inclosure (which embraces 
within a low stone wall about 250 acres) to the western gate at the 
tramway terminus next to Fort Myer. To the left (south) of this 
path stretches away through the woods an immense area of soldiers' 
graves in parallel rows, level with the sod, and each having its little 
marble headstone. This vast burial-field is covered with trees 
and carpeted with luxuriant turf, Down in the woods at the foot of 
the hill are other serried ranks of the fallen " boys in blue," and along 
the brow of the slope, at the right of the path, rest many officers of 
the army and navy whose names are familiar in every patriotic 
home. Such are Harney, Ingalls, McKibbin, Gregg, Gleason, King, 
Hazen, Tourtellotte, Marthor, Myer, and many others; and several 
of the mortuary monuments have great appropriateness. The total 
number of burials here is now over 16,000. 

Fort Myer occupies a large area of the old estate adjoining the 
cemetery on the north, but separated from it by a ravine up which 
the tramway makes its way from the aqueduct bridge. This is a 
cavalry post of the army, capable of accommodating a whole reg- 
iment, and now occupied by the Sixth Cavalry. The officers' quarters 
are on the bluff overlooking the Potomac and the city, behind them 
are various offices, the post -hospital, etc., and farther back the com- 
modious brick barracks, large stables, and great drill shed. The even- 
ing parades, in fine weather, and the weekly band concerts are 
picturesque and delightful; and it is highly interesting to sit in the 



148 HANDY GUIDE TO WASHINGTOX. 

public gallery of the drill hall and watch the feats of horsemanship 
in which the cavalrymen are trained. The great rolling field, west 
of the cemetery and south of the post parade ground, is devoted to 
trooj), squadron, and regimental drilling, and is a favorite place for 
polo. This fine inilitary post occupies the site of Fort Whipple, one 
of the strongest defenses of Washington during the Civil War. 

.After the disaster at Bull Run, a system of defenses was projected 
and partly completed to cover every approach to the city. ' ' Every 
prominent point," wrote General Cullom, " at intervals of 800 or 1 ,000 
yards, was occupied by an inclosed field-fort; every important ap- 
proach or depression of ground, unseen from the forts, was swept 
by a battery of field guns, and the whole connected by rifle-trenches, 
which were, in fact, lines of infantry parapet, furnishing emplacement 
for two ranks of men, and affording covered communication along 
the line; while roads were opened, wherever necessary, so that troops 
and artillery could be moved rapidly from one point of the immense 
periphery to another, or under cover from point to point." 

In this circle of defenses Fort Whipple held a very important 
position, and was a star-shaped earthwork, scientifically built, and 
heavily armed and garrisoned. It has been completely swept away, 
but south of the drill plain, at the eastern corner of the cemetery. 
Fort Tillinghast is still standing and looks, at a distance, as if time 
had spared it as completely as did the ravages of war. It is well 
worth a visit. The ruins of Fort Cass, and other outworks near by, 
are also traceable. 

Fort Whipple was assigned to the use of the Signal Corps as 
training school and headquarters, and was at once re-named Myer 
after its commandant, the Chief Signal Officer. It was there that the 
present code of army signaling was established; and there began 
the experimental meteorological work out of which has grown the 
United States Weather Service. 

3. To the Soldiers' Home, Rock Creek Church, Fort 

Stevens, Battle and National Cemeteries, the 

Catholic University, and Brookland. 

The Soldiers' Home stands in the midst of a noble park, with a 
wide outlook from high grounds directly north of the Capitol from 
which it is distant four miles in a straight line. It is a favorite ter- 
minus for driving and bicycling, beautiful roads leading thither from 
the head of Connecticut Avenue or Fourteenth Street, and less desir- 
able ones returning through the northeastern quarter of the city. 
Two lines of street-cars approach the Soldiers' Home, giving the 
tourist an alternate route going and coming; and he should devote 



EXCURSIONS ABO U T WA SUING TON. 1 49 

the better part of a day to this excursion, a good plan being to take 
a luncheon, to be eaten in the grove about Fort Totten, as no 
restaurant is open in that region. 

The direct route out is by the cable-cars north on Seventh Street, 
(5 cents) and the electric line from the boundary (5 cents) to the Eagle 
or western gate of the Sol'liers' Home grounds. A short distance 
beyond the boundary, at the right of the road, are seen the tall brick 
buildings of Howard University — a collegiate institution estab- 
lished soon after the war, as an outgrowth of the Freedmen's 
Bureau, for the education of colored youthis of both sex'.s. Its first 
president, was Maj.-Gen. O, O. Howard (who had resigned from the 
army temporarily to undertake this work), and it has maintained 
itself as a flourishing inst'lution having some 300 students annually. 

The new Distributing Reservoir, to which the famous and 
incomplete " Lydecker Tunnel" was intended to carry water from 
the Potomac conduit, occupies the high ground north of the 
university; it will probably be made use of before long. 

The ride out to the end of this road, at the District limits, is a very 
pleasant one all the way; and if one is fond of a walking, he can do 
well by going on throi^gh the suburban villages of Potworth and 
Brightwood to Silver Springs and Takoma — the latter a station on the 
Baltimore & Ohio Railroad almost at the extreme northern corner of 
the District. It is then a very pleasant walk back to the Soldiers' 
Home, along the. Blair and Rock Creek Church roads, near the rail- 
road, which are bordered by luxuriant hedges of osage orange. 
This is a fair country road for bicycles, changing to a macadamized 
turnpike as it nears the city. 

Near Brightwood, in p?ain view off at the left as you go out upon 
the cars, are the crumbling parapets of Fort Stevepts, the only one 
of the Washington fortifications that had any actual work to do in 
protecting the city. 

Early s Raid, in July, 1864, was the only serious scare Washington 
ever had, but it was enough. Panic-si rlcken people fiom the Mary- 
land villages came flocking in along thi.> road, bringing such of their 
household goods as they could carry. For two or thn^e days the city 
was cut off from communication with the outside world, except by 
way of the Potomac River. The District militia was relnfoiced by 
every able-bodied man who could be swept up. Department clerks 
were mustered into companies and sent to the trenches, with any 
odds and ends of fighting material that could be gathered. There 
was an immense commotion, but the capital was never so demoral- 
ized as was alleged of it at the time. Within forty-eight hours, from 



150 HANDY GUIDE TO IV A SUING TON. 

one source and another, 60,000 men had been gathered. Meanwhile 
the stubborn resistance made some miles up the river, by Gen. Lew 
Wallace, whose wide reputation as the author of " Ben Hur," " The 
Fair God," etc., was still to come, who delayed the invading host 
against frightful odds until the fortifications were well manned, had 
saved the city from being sacked and the President from capture. 
It is not too much to say that Wallace's prompt and courageous 
action did this thing. Wallace w'as forced back, of course, but when 
Early got him out of the way, and reached the defenses north of the 
city, he found the old Sixth Corps there, and, contenting himself with 
a brisk skirmish in the fields in front of Fort Stevens, he fled, carry- 
ing away the plunder of hundreds of desolated Maryland farm-houses. 
The President was not only intensely anxious but eagerly interested. 
Noah Brooks, in his " Washington in Lincoln's Time," sa^^s of him: 
" He went out to Fort Stevens during the skirmish . . . on July 12, 
and repeatedly exposed himself in the coolest manner to the fire of 
the rebel sharpshooters. He had once said to me that he lacked 
physical courage, although he had a fair share of the moral quality 
of that virtue; but his calm unconsciousness of danger, while the 
bullets were flying thick and fast about him, was ample proof that he 
would not have dropped his musket and run, as he believed he 
certainly would, at the first sign of physical danger." 

Those killed in this affair were buried in the little cemetery by 
the Methodist Church, now called Battle Cemetery. 

The Soldiers' Home is the forerunner and type of those which 
were erected in various parts of the country after the Civil War, but 
it is not in the same class. It is an institution established in 185 1 by 
the efforts of Gen. Winfield Scott, and out of certain funds received 
from Mexico, as a retreat for veterans of the Mexican War, and for 
men of the regular army who have been disabled or who, by twenty 
years of honorable service and a payment of 12 cents a montl^, have 
acquired the right of residence there the remainder of their lives. 
This gives the veterans a pleasing sense of self-support, in addition 
to which many are able to earn money by working about the build- 
ings and grounds and in various ways. There are ordinarily about 
500 men there, who live under a mild form of military discipline and 
routine, wear the uniform of the army, and are governed by veteran 
officers. The affairs of the Home, which has now a fund of over 
$1,000,000 and a considerable independent income, are administered 
by a board composed of the general of the army and his principal 
assistants at the War Department. 

"The main building is of white marble, three stories in height, and 
is fashioned after the Norman order of architecture. On the ground 
are several elegant marble cottages occupied by the officials, a pret^ 
church of Seneca stone, a capacious hospital building with wid^ 



I 



EXCURSIONS ABOUT IV A SHING TON. 151 

piazzas, from which charming views of Washington and the Potomac 
can be had, a fine library building, well-stocked with books and 
periodicals, and numerous other structures. On the brow of one of 
the hills stands a bronze statue of General Scott, by Launt Thomp- 
son, erected by the Home in 1874, at a cost of $18,000. The entire 
estate is inclosed by a low stone wall, surmounted by a small iron 
fence of handsome design. Fifty acres are under cultivation, and 
fine crops of fruits and vegetables are raised. 

"Near the main building is a large cottage often used by the Presi- 
dents of the United States as a summer residence. It is surrounded 
by noble trees, and has a very attractive appearance. Pierce was 
the first President to pass the summer here, and Buchanan, Lincoln, 
Johnson, Hayes, and Arthur have preferred its quiet comfort to the 
statelier life in the White House." 

In the rear of the Home, on the wooded slope beyond Hare wood 
Road, lies one of the National military cemeteries^ entered by an 
arch upon whose pillars are inscribed the names of great Union com- 
manders in the Civil War. Here rest the remains of about 5,500 
Federal and 271 Confederate soldiers, less than 300 of whom are 
unknown. The grounds contain a pretty stone chapel, in which lies 
the body of Gen. John A. Logan. 

Rock Creek Church and its beautiful cemetery, northeast of the 
Soldiers' Home, and separated from it by the fine Rock Creek Church 
Road, are well worth examination. 

This is the oldest house of worship in the District of Columbia, or 
near it, and was erected in 1719, by the planters of the neighborhood, 
of bricks imported from England as ballast in empty tobacco ships. 
It was remodeled, however, in 1S68, and now appears as a small 
steepleless structure nearly hidden among great trees and sur- 
rounded by ancient graves and vaults, whose tablets bear the names 
of the foremost of the old Maryland families and early Washing- 
tonians. The oldest graves are nearest the church; and one head- 
stone is pitted with marks of minie balls, showing that some soldiers 
have used it as a convenient target. The cemetery is still used, and 
the monument to Peter Force (p. 48) is of special interest. In 
Miss Lockwood's " Historic Homes" will be found a long incidental 
account of the history of this sacred spot and the relics still used in 
the service of the old church. 

A delightful homeward way is to walk across, a mile or so, 
through the grove paths of the Soldiers' Home park to the terminus 
of the Eckington Electric Railroad ; but many Avill be interested, 
instead, to go around the Military Cemetery, and up the hill to the 
right, where, in the woods, may still be seen the star-shaped embank- 
ments of Fort Tot ten, with numerous rifle pits and outworks. This 



152 HANDY GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

is one of the best preserved and most accessible of the old forts, and 
its parapets command a wide and beautiful landscape. 

From Fort Totten the Harewood Road may easily be reached and 
followed southward along the eastern side of the park until it 
emerges upon the great campus of 

The Catholic University of America. This is the national insti- 
tution of higher learning established by all the Catholic bishops of 
the United States in the Third Plenary Council of Baltimore, and is 
regarded by Pope Leo XIII as one of the chief honors of his pon- 
tificate. The grounds comprise seventy acres, and the visitor is at 
once struck by the stately appearance of the two great university 
structures already erected. 

The one to the left is Divinity Hall, erected in 1889. It is a solid 
stone structure of 266 feet front and hve stories in height ; the lower 
floor is given up to class rooms, museums, and the library; the upper 
floors are occupied with the lodgings of the professors and students 
of the department of divinity; the top story is a well-equipped gym- 
nasium. The Divinity Chapel is admired by all visitors. The 
building to the right is known as the McMahon Hall of Philosophy, 
and was dedicated in 1895. It is built of granite throughout, is 250 
feet front, and five stories high. It consists entirely of lecture rooms, 
class rooms, laboratories, and museums. It accommodates two great 
schools or faculties, each comprising several departments of study. 
The School of Philosophy comprises departments of philosophy proper, 
letters, mathematics, physics, chemistry, biolog}^, and has attached 
vto it a department of technology giving full instruction in civil, 
mechanical, and electrical engineering. The School of the Social 
Sciences comprises departments of ethics and sociology, economics, 
political science, and law. The former faculty leads up to the degree 
of Ph. D., the latter to all degrees in law. Immediately adjoining 
the university are three affiliated colleges, called St. Thomas' College, 
the Marist College, and the Holy Cross College. Each of these con-. 
tains from fifteen to twenty students of philosophy and theology, and, 
their professors. They attend courses in the university. The 
divinity courses are attended only by ecclesiastics of the Catholic 
Church. To the legal, philosophical, and scientific courses lay 
students are admitted, without regard to their religious creed. 

The old country village and present suburb of Brookland lies 
just beyond, and is the terminus of the Soldiers' Home and Ecking- 
ton Electric Railway, which will carry the visitor back from the uni- 
versity gates or southern entrance to the Soldiers' Home in about 
twenty-five minutes. Just south of the latter, west of the suburban 
district of Edgewood, through which the line passes, are the Glen- 
wood, Prospect Hill, and St. Mary's (Roman Catholic) cemeteries, 



EXCURSIONS ABOUT WA SHING TON. 153 

which contain the graves of many famous persons and some fine 
monuments. Nearer the city hne is the fine suburb, Eckmgton, in 
the midst of which, upon a beautifully wooded hill, is the colonial 
building of the Eckington Hotel, open in summer. This line enters 
the city along New York Avenue, and terminates at the Treasury. 

4. To "The Zoo," Kock Creek National Park, and 
Chevy Chase. 

This is an excursion into the northern and most beautiful corner 
of the District, reached by taking the cable cars out Fourteenth 
(Street to the boundary, and then (by transfer) the Chevy Chase Ime. 
The latter extends from Sixth Street (connecting with the Seventh 
Street line) along U Street west, through Hancock Circle (where New 
Hampshire Avenue crosses Sixteenth Street), and thence turns up 
the hill 'at Eighteenth Street, and goes across Rock Creek, and out 
into the country, along Connecticut Avenue Extended, passing on 
\ its way half way around the 

Zoological Park. A zoological garden is among the most recent 
additions to the sights of the capital. 

Previous to its organization and the purchase of this site of about 

\ 167 acres in 1890 the National Museum had accumulated by gift 

I many live animals, but had no means of caring for them; these at 

i once became the nucleus of the new collection, which w^as placed 

J under the general charge of the Smithsonian Institution, with Frank 

Baker, M. D., as superintendent. Two definite objects have been in 

view here. The original idea was not a park for public exhibition 

i purposes — a popular "Zoo" — but a reservation in which there 

might be bred and maintained representatives of many American 

animals threatened with extinction. Congress, however, enlarged 

and modified this notion b}'- adding the exhibition features, making 

the place a pleasure-ground as well as an experiment station, and 

consequently imposing upon the District of Columbia one-half the 

cost of its purchase and maintenance. Nevertheless, the managers 

I do all they can to carry out the original, more scientific intention. 

How to 7'each the Park. — The car conductors are in the habit of 
i carrying passengers around to the western gate; but a better way is 
\ to leave the car immediately after crossing the bridge, where a nar- 
row lane leads to a flight of rustic steps down the hill to the brink of 
Rock Creek, near the bear dens. No admittance charge or fee of any 
kind is required, and the garden is open daily, including Sundays. 

The Bear Dens are the best of their kind in the country, being 
rude caves blasted out of the cliff left by an abandoned quarry, 
which form natural retreats for their big tenants, while capacious 



154 HANDY GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

iron cages - enclose door yards well supplied with bathing-pools. 
All of the varieties of American bears — polar, grizzly, cinnarhon, 
and black — are here, and may be compared at one view. 

Crossing Rock Creek, a five-minutes' walk brings you to the prin- 
cipal Animal House, which is a commodious stone building, well 
lighted and well ventilated, and having on its southern side an annex 
of very fine out-door cages, where the great carnivora and other beasts 
dwell in warm weather. The collection is not very large, as the funds 
do not at present allow of the purchase of animals, which must be ob- 
tained by gift or exchange. Captures in the Yellowstone National 
Park, however, are permitted for the benefit of this garden, and have 
supplied many specimens. 

The collection here now comprises one female and two male lions. 
One of the males, " Lobengula," is a remarkably large and healthy 
monarch, born in the jungles of Lobengula's country, Mashonaland, 
East Africa. His dam was killed by an ivory merchant, H. C. Moore, 
who captured and brought to the coast three cubs, but only this one 
survived the transatlantic voyage. Very few jungle-bred lions exist 
in captivity. The leopard is another wild animal, born in the forests 
along the Lualaba River, one of the highest tributaries of the Kongo, 
in Central Africa. It was brought down to the coast in 1893, and then 
sent to the United States by R. D. Mohun, U. S. Consul at Booma. 
Two pumas complete the list of large cats. Of the smaller carnivora, 
the garden possesses a few of note, one of which is the tayra (Galictis 
barbara), a large, dark brown. Central American weasel. The kink- 
ajou or cacomistle, from Mexico, is also worth attention. Various 
other quadrupeds, reptiles, and birds are owned and placed here; and 
during the winter a hippopotamus, an Indian rhinoceros, and some 
other rare beasts, loaned by traveling menageries, are usually to be 
seen. The hardier animals (except a few antelopes and kangaroos, 
which have a stable) are quartered out of doors all the year round 
in wire enclosures scattered about the grounds. These are all 
healthy and happy to a gratifying degree, and as a result they pro- 
duce young freely. The herds of bison, elk, and deer were recruited 
mainly from the Yellowstone Park. The former occupy adjacent 
paddocks upon the rising ground north of the animal house, and the 
latter enjoy extensive pastures and a picturesque thatched stable some- 
what to the east, on a hillside sloping down to Rock Creek. In an- 
other quarter are to be seen the cages of the wolves, foxes, and dogs 
— among the last several Eskimo dogs, from both Alaska and Green- 
land. 77^^' /?(:'<:z7^<'r5, however, probably constitute the most singular 
and interesting of all the features of the garden at present. They 
consist of a colony of seven, received in 1S94. They were given the 
wooded ravine of a little branch of Rock Creek, where they at once 
set about cutting down trees, adajiting to their purposes the brush 
supplied to them, burrowing in the banks of the stream and construct- 
ing dams and houses, precisely as in a state of nature. The public 



EXCURSIONS ABOUT IV A SHING TON. 155 

generally is not admitted to this nook, but those especially interested 
can usually see the " improvements," if not the clever workmen them- 
selves, by application to the superintendent or head keeper, Mr. 
Blackburn. The garden has two fine young Indian elephants — both 
males — " Golddust" and " Dunk." The latter was presented to the 
park by Adam Forepaugh in i8gi; at the beginning of 1896 he was 
about nine feet tall, and weighed 9,000 pounds. ' ' Golddust " has been 
loaned by Forepaugh, is seven feet and eight inches tall, and weighs 
5,600 pounds. 

In leaving the Park, the visitor will go to the western entrance 
along the board walk and carriage-drive; and can there, if he wishes, 
take the electric cars out to Chevy Chase. This is a charming suburb, 
just beyond the District line, at the extremity of Connecticut Avenue 
Extended, which is cut straight across the broken and picturesque 
region west of Rock Creek. The forested gorge of this romantic 
stream, east of the avenue, and embracing most of the region be- 
tween it and the proposed extension of Sixteenth Street, or " Execu- 
tive Avenue," has been acquired and reserved by the Government as 
a public park; but as yet no improvements have been attempted, and 
it remains a wild rambling-ground full of grand possibilities for the 
landscape artist. 

Chevy Chase consists of a group of handsome country villas, 
among which an old mansion has been converted into a "country- 
club," with tennis-courts, golf-links, etc., attached, and here the 
young people of the fashionable set meet for out-door amusements, 
in which fox-hunting with hounds,- after the British fashion, is prom- 
inent. A large and beautiful hotel was started here, but the building 
is now occupied as a school. An additional fare is charged for travel 
beyond the circle at the District line, and there is little to attract the 
traveler farther northward. Instead of turning back, however, it is 
a good plan to walk southwestward eight or ten minutes, passing old 
Fort Reno, and striking the Tennallytown electric road at the Glen 
Echo Junction (p. 159), where he can return direct to Georgetown, or 
can go on to Glen Echo and then up to Cabin John Bridge or Great 
Falls, or back to Georgetown by the electric line along the bank of 
the Potomac. 

5. Georg-etown and its Vicinity. 

Georgetown, now West Washington, was a flourishing village and 
seaport (the river channel having been deeper previous to the con- 
struction of bridges) before there was a thought of placing the capital 
here; and in its hospitable houses the early officials found pleasanter 
homes than the embryo Federal city then afforded. Its narrow, well 
shaded, hilly streets are yet quaint with reminders of those days, and 
it has residents who still consider their circle of families the only 



156 HANDY GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

persons "true blue." Georgetown is still a port of entry, but its 
business does little more than pay the expenses of the office. 

Before the era of railroads Georgetown had distinct importance, 
due to the fact that it was the tidewater terminus of the Chesapeake 
& Ohio Canal, which was finished up the river as far as the Great 
Falls in 1784, and in 1828 was carried through to Cumberland, Md., 
at a cost of $13,000,000. It never realized the vast expectations 
of its promoters, but was of great service to Georgetown, and is still 
used for the transport of coal, grain, and other slow freights. The 
original bridge over the Potomac was constructed to carry the canal 
down to Alexandria, whence its name; but that use of the bridge 
and of the canal itself below this point were long ago abandoned. 

Pennsylvania Avenue forms the highway toward Georgetown, 
but stops at Rock Creek. The cars turn off to K Street, cross the 
deep ravine over a bridge borne upon the arched water-mains, and 
then run east to the end of the street at the Aqueduct Bridge. Here 
a three-story Unioji Railway Station is building. Into its lowest 
level is to come the line from Arlington and Alexandria, Va., 
over the bridge. The second level will accommodate the cars of the 
Pennsylvania Avenue line; and the top story will form the terminus 
of the electric railway to the Great Falls (p. 159). Broad stairways 
and elevators connect the three floors. 

Georgetown does not contain much to attract the hasty sight-seer, 
though much for the meditative historian. A large sign, painted 
upon a brick house near the Aqueduct Bridge, informs him that that 
is the Key Mansion — the home for several years of Francis Scott 
Key, the author of " The Star Spangled Banner," w^ho resided here 
after the War of 1812, became district-attorney, and died in 1843. 
Similar personal memoranda belong to several other old houses here. 
On Analostan, for example — the low forested island below the 
farther end of Aqueduct Bridge — lived the aristocratic Masons, 
during the early years of the Republic, cultivating a model farm and 
entertaining royally. One of the latest of them was John M. Mason, 
author of the Fugitive Slave Law, and an associate of Mr. Slidell 
in the Confederate mission to England, which was interrupted by 
Wilkes in the Treiit affair. The most prominent institution in this 
locality, however, is 

Georgetown College. This is the School of Arts and Sciences 
of Georgetown University, which is under the direction of the 
Fathers of the Society of Jesus. This school, consisting of three 
departments — postgraduate, collegiate, and preparatory — is the oldest 
Catholic institution of higher learning in the United States, having 
been founded in 1789. The college was chartered as a university by 
act of Congress in 181 5, and in 1833 was empowered by the Holy 



EXCURSIONS ABOUT WASHINGTON. 157 

See to grant degrees in philosophy and theology. The present main 
building, begun in 1878, is an excellent specimen of Rhenish-Roman- 
esque architecture, and its grounds cover seventy-eight acres, includ- 
ing the beautiful woodland ' ' walks " and a magnificent campus. The 
Riggs Library of over 70,000 volumes contains rare and curious 
works. The Coleman Museum has many fine exhibits, among them 
interesting Colonial relics and valuable collections of coins and 
medals. Not far from the college, on a prominent hill, is the Astro- 
nomical Observatory, where many original investigations are made 
as well as class instruction given. Thirty-nine members of the 
faculty and 296 students comprise the present census of this school. 

The School of Law, situated in the vicinity of the district courts, is 
one of the best in America, numbering on its staff several leading 
jurists; the faculty for 1895 numbered fifteen, the students, 304. The 
School of Medicine is fully equipped for thorough medical training 
under distinguished specialists; the faculty numbers 49, the students, 
125. The total number of students in the university in 1895 was 725. 

Oak Hill Cemetery, on the southern bank of Rock Creek near P 
Street, is a beautiful burying ground rising in terraces and containing 
the graves of many distinguished men and women. It is reached by 
the line of the Metropolitan street-cars, more commonly called the 
" F" Street line; leaving the cars at Thirtieth Street, a walk of two 
squares. north, will bring the visitor to the entrance. 

" Near the gateway is the chapel built in the style of architectiire 
of Henry VIII. This is matted by ivy brought from ' Melrose Abbey. ' 
In front of the chapel is the monument of John Howard Payne, the 
author of ' Home, Sweet Home!' who had been buried in 1852 in the 
cemetery near Tunis, Africa, and there remained until, at the 
expense' of Mr. Corcoran, his bones were brought to this spot, and in 
'83 were re-interred with appropriate ceremonies. The statue of 
William Pinkney is near here also (he was the Protestant Episcopal 
Bishop of Maryland, and nephew of William Pinkney, the great 
Maryland lawyer). It represents that prelate in full canonical robes, 
and was dedicated to his memory by Mr. Corcoran, who was the 
friend of his youth, the comfort of his declining years. The mauso- 
leum of Mr. Corcoran for his family is a beautiful specimen of mortu- 
ary architecture; this is in the northwestern section of the cemetery, 
whilst in the southeastern is the mausoleum of the Van Ness family, 
whose leader married the heiress, Marcia, daughter of David Burns, 
one of the original proprietors of the site of Washington City. This 
tomb is a model of the Temple of the Vesta at Rome. The cemetery 
comprises twenty-five acres, incorporated in 1849, one-half of which, 
and an endowment of $90,000 were the donation of Mr. William W. 
Corcoran. Here were buried Chief Justice Chase, Secretary of War 



158 HANDY GUiDE TO WASHINGTON. 

Stanton, the great Professor Joseph Henry, and many others illus- 
trious in American annals." — Sights of Washmgton. 

Extremely pleasant rambles may be taken to the north and east of 
this cemetery, and it is not far across the hills to 

The Naval Observatory. This is a new astronomical station of 
the Government, under control of the navy and presided over by an 
officer of high rank, whose first object is the gathering and collection 
of information of use to mariners, such as precision of knowledge of 
latitude and longitude, variation of the compass, accuracy of chro- 
nometers and other instruments used in the navigation of ships of 
war, and similar information more or less allied to astronomy. 
Purely scientific astronomical work is also carried on, and the equip- 
ment of telescopes and other instruments is complete, enabling the 
staff of learned men — naval and civilian— attached to the institution 
to accomplish notable results in the advancement of that dejjartment 
of knowledge. The casual sight-seer will find nothing to attract him; 
but the special inquirer will be welcomed by the officers at all suitable 
hours. It is reached by the Tennallytown electric line. 

This new observatory dates from 1892, when it was moved from 
the wooded elevation, called Braddock's Hill, at the Potomac end of 
New York Avenue, which it had occupied for nearly a century. This 
ground was a reservation originally set apart at the instance of 
Washington, who wished to see planted there the foundations of the 
National University — the dream of his last years. It is called 
University Square to this day, and a proposition has lately been 
made that Washington's idea should be partly carried out by the 
establishment there of a national gallery of architecture and art. 

6. Georgetown to Tennallytown and Glen Echo. 

From Georgetown an electric road rims north out High Street 
and the Tennallytown road to the District line, where it branches 
into two lines. Leaving the city quickly it makes its way through a 
pretty suburban district, out into a region of irregular hills and 
dales, where, about one mile from the starting point, the new 
United States Naval Observatory is seen about a quarter of a mile 
to the right. Just beyond its entrance is an industrial school. 
The general district at the left is Wesley Heights, nineiy 
acres of which, and the name, are the property of a Methodist 
association which proposes to establish there a highly equipped uni- 
versity, to be called the American, modeled upon the plan of Ger- 
man universities, and open to both sexes. The site of the buildings 
will be west of Massachusetts Avenue where it intersects Forty- 



\ / 



NEW YORK and 

WASHINGTON, D.C 



Are connected by a delightful 

DAILY ALL-WATER ROUTE 

in the superb Ocean Steamships 
of the 

Old Dominion Line 




OLD POINT COMFORT, VA. 
TO AND FROM 

New York and Old Point Comfort, or Norfolk, Va., 

And the beautiful new Sound Steamers of the 

Norfolk & Washington, D. C, Steamboat Co. 

First-class tickets include meals and stateroom accommodations on the Old 

Dominion Line Steamers. For full information, rates, 

schedules, etc., apply to 

O. D. S. S. CO., Pier 26, N. R., or Norfolk & Washington, D. C, Steam- 
New York. boat Company, Washington, D. C. 
W. L GUILLAUDEU, Vice-Pres't and Traffic Mgr., JOHN CALLAHAN, Gen'l Mgr. 



EXCURSIONS ABOUT WASHINGTON. 159 

fourth Street, forming University Circle. Work is beginning on the 
buildings, and the endowment is growing. The district west of the 
road is Woodley Heights, Woodley adjoining it further east along 
the valley of Rock Creek. Tunlaw Heights is another local " subdi- 
vision " here; and somewhat farther on is Oak View, where there is 
a lofty observatory, open to anyone who cares to climb it, and obtain 
the wider outlook, embracing a large part of the city. A few years 
ago there was a great " boom " in suburban villa sites near here, and 
many noted persons built the fine houses which are scattered over 
the ridges in all directions. Among them was President Cleveland, 
whose house, " Red Top" (from the color of the roof), is passed by 
the cars just beyond Oak View. It was afterward sold by the Presi- 
dent to great advantage; and during his second term he occupied 
another summer home not far to the eastward of this site. The cross- 
road here runs straight to the Zoological Park, a trifle over a mile 
eastward. Woodley Inn is a summer hotel on the left of the road, 
which keeps northward along a ridge with wide views, for a mile and 
a quarter farther to Tennallytown, lately become a suburb of consid- 
erable population, largely increased by families from the city in sum- 
mer. A road to the left (west) from here gives a very picturesque 
walk of a mile and a half over to the Receiving Reservoir, and a mile 
farther will take you to Little Falls, or the Chain Bridge. Up at the 
right, on the highest point of land in the District (400 feet), the new 
reservoir is seen, occupying the site of Fort Reno, one of the most 
important of the circle of forts about the capital during the Civil 
War. A wooded knoll, some distance to the left, shows the crumb- 
ling earthworks of a lesser redoubt near the river road, which 
branches off northwest from the village. Three-quarters of a mile 
beyond Tennallytown the limit of the District of Columbia is 
reached, and i\iQ Junction of the line to Glen Echo. The main line 
has tracks and runs occasional cars northward as far as Bethesda, 
proposing, after a time, to extend its rails to Rockville, and ulti- 
mately, no doubt, to Frederick, Md. 

The Glen Echo Liiie runs a car every half hour (fare 5 cents) 
along a winding road through the woods to the Conduit Road and 
bank of the Potomac, where it connects with the Great Falls Road. 

7. Georgetown to the Great Falls of the Potomac. 

The Georgetown & Great Falls Railroad Company operates an 
electric line, opened in 1896, to the Great Falls of the Potomac, 



160 HANDY GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

which affords one of the most delightful excursions out of Washing- 
ton. Its large trolley cars leave the Union Station, in Georgetown, 
and take a high course overlooking the river valley, which becomes 
much narrower and more gorge-like above the city, with the Vir- 
ginia banks very steep, rocky, and broken by quarries. The rails are 
laid through the woods, and gradually descend to the bank of the 
canal (p. 156), which skirts the foot of the bluff. About three miles 
above Georgetown is the Chain Bj^z'dge, so called because the 
earliest bridge here, where the river for some two miles is confined 
within a narrow, swift, and deep channel on the Virginia side, was 
made of suspended chains. The lofty bank is broken here by the 
ravine of Pimmit Run, making a convenient place for several roads 
to meet and cross the river. The bluffs above it were crowned with 
strong forts, for this was one of the principal approaches to Washing- 
ton. A mile and a half above the Chain Bridge, having run through 
the picturesque woods behind High, or Sycamore, Island, owned by a 
sportsmen's club, you emerge to find the river a third of a mile wide 
again, and dashing over black rocks and ledges in the series of 
rapids called the Little Falls of the Potomac. The wild beauty of 
the locality makes it a favorite one for picnicking parties, and bass 
fishing is always excellent. The Maryland bank becomes higher and 
more rugged above Little Falls, and takes the name of Glett Echo 
Heights, where a speculative town has been platted, and where the 
Glen Echo electric road (p. 159) terminates. Whether the rustic 
hillside restaurant, called The Castle in the Air, which stood here 
and was destroyed by fire in 1894, wnll ever be rebuilt, remains to be 
seen. Half a mile farther are passed the large and extraordinary 
rough stone buildings of a " Chautauqua Assembly," which attempted 
to establish here a school and colony of summer residents similar to 
that on the shore of Chautauqua Lake, in New York. The enter- 
prise did not succeed well, partly because the locality proved malarial, 
an insalubrity charged to the damp fogs that arise from the river- 
gorge at night. The river here is broad and rocky, with pretty banks 
all the way up to the ravine of Cabin John Run, where the fine arch 
of the celebrated bridge (p. 161) gleams through the trees. The remain- 
der of the run (five miles) is through a wild, wooded region at the 
edge of the canal and river, which is again narrow, deep, and broken 
by islands flooded at high water, with high, ravine-cut banks. This is 
a favorite place with Washingtonians for fishing with rod and fly, 
from the banks; Daniel Webster often came here for this purpose. 



EXCURSIONS ABOUT WASHINGTON. 161 

The Great Falls of the Potomac are a series of bold cascades 
forming a drop of 80 feet within a few hundred yards of distance, 
very pretty but hardly deserving the panegyrics bestowed by some 
early writers. The place will always be exceedingly attractive, how- 
ever, especially to artists and anglers. The appearance of the falls 
has been considerably modified, and probably enhanced, by the 
structures of the City Water Works, for this is the source of Wash- 
ington's public water supply. The water is conveyed to the city 
through a brick conduit, which runs along the top of the Maryland 
bank, and is overlaid by the macadamized driveway called the Con- 
duit Road. This work of engineering meets its first serious difficulty 
at Cabin John Run, where a stone arch leaps across the ravine in a 
single span — unequaled elsewhere — of 220 feet. Its center is 100 feet 
above the little stream, and the structure is as graceful to the eye as 
it is admirable to the mind. A neat hotel stands here, which is not 
only a favorite stopping place for driving and 'cycling parties, but is 
filled in summer with regular boarders. The grounds are pleasant, 
and the river and canal have attractions for boatmen, bathers, and 
fishermen; while the autumn brings good shooting for quail and 
grouse, foxes, squirrels, and rabbits, and only a few miles farther out 
for deer and turkeys. 

During the Civil War this upper valley of the river was filled 
with spies, smugglers between the armies, thieves, and all the loose 
ends of a broken society, and almost relapsed into its primitive bar- 
barism. Even now there is little use of the land, thousands of acres 
of which have gone back to worthless "old field pines "and oak 
brush. The soil is poor, but the people are poorer, and have not even 
taken the trouble to restore fences burned by raiders during the war. 

The Co7idiiit Road is kept in excellent order by the Government 
and is the only one ridable for a long distance in all seasons by wheel- 
men. It is easily reached by various cross-cuts from the northern 
parts of the city, and bicycles are always visible upon it, as well as 
carriages. It is a delightful run from Cabin John Bridge or Glen 
Echo down to Georgetown along this road. The gorge of the river, 
with its numerous rapids, bordered by rocky banks, is always inter- 
esting. A mile below Little Falls, on the border of the District, the 
Receiving Reservoir, ensconced like a natural lake among wooded 
hills, is passed, and thence houses appear more frequently. Every 
mile or so there is a " wayside inn," and you get a glimpse of more 
distant country homes of the old regime. Below Chain Bridge the 
river gradually widens and roughens, and the road ascends to the 



162 HANDY GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

summit of the Palisades of the Potomac, whence a glorious view is 
obtained down the valley. The great Distributing Reservoir is 
skirted, and the road gradually descends into Georgetown. 

8. To Bladensburg- and Kendall Green. 

Bladensburg is a quiet Maryland village, some seven miles north- 
east, on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. It is a port on the Ana- 
costia, to which large boats formerly ascended with goods, and went 
back laden with farm produce. Through it ran the stage road from 
the 'north; and here, August 24, 1814, the feeble American army 
met the British, under Ross and Cockburn, who had marched over 
from their landing place on the Patuxent River, intent upon the 
capture of the Yankee capital. The Americans, partly by blunder- 
ing and partly by panic (except some sailors under Commodore 
Barney), ran away after the first attack, and left the way open for 
the redcoats to take and burn the town as they pleased; but they 
inflicted a remarkably heavy loss upon the invaders. 

"It is a favorite drive with Washingtonians to-day," remarks 
Mr. Todd, in his Story of Washington, " over the smooth Bladens- 
burg pike to the quaint old village. Dipping into the ravine where 
Barney made his stand, you have on the right the famous dueling 
ground, enriched with some of the noblest blood of the Union. A 
mile farther on, you come out upon the banks of the Eastern Branch, 
here an inconsiderable mill stream, easily forded, though spanned by 
a bridge some thirty yards in length. On the opposite shore gleam 
through the trees the houses of Bladensburg, very little changed 
since the battle-day. Some seventy yards before reaching the 
bridge, the Washington pike is joined by the old Georgetown post- 
road, which comes down from the north to meet it at an angle of 
forty-five degrees. The gradually rising triangular field between 
these t:wo roads, its heights now crowned by an elegant club-house 
of modern design, was the battleground." 

A string of pleasant suburban villages nearl}'- join one another 
along the railway and turnpike — Highland, Wiley Heights, Rives, 
Woodbridge, Langdon, Avalon Heights, and Winthrop Heights, or 
Montello. The last is well inside the District and brings us back to 
Mount Olivet Cemetery burial ground, lying between the turnpike 
and the railway near the city boundary, which has the sad distinction 
of containing the bodies of Mrs. Surratt, one of the conspirators in 
the assassination of Lincoln, and of Wirz, the cruel keeper of Ander- 
son ville prison. 

The National Fair Grounds, opposite Mount Olivet and west of 
the railroad, contain the Ivy City race track, which is the scene of 



EXCURSIONS ABOUT WASHINGTON. 163 

annual races that call out all Washington. The suburban "addition," 
Montello, is north of the fair grounds, and south of them is Ivy- 
City, with Trinidad east of the railroad. The southern part of 
Ivy City is occupied by the extensive grounds of the Columbia 
Institution for the Deaf and Dumb, popularly known as 

Kendall Green. This institution was incorporated in 1857, and is 
for the free education of deaf-mute children of sailors and soldiers of 
the United States, as also of the children of the District so afflicted. 

It was greatly indebted in its early years to the benefactions of 
the Hon. Amos Kendall, who gave land, money, and buildings 
toward its establishment. The directors called as conductor Edward 
M. Gallaudet, who had been teaching in the Hartford School for the 
Deaf — the first in America, founded by his father in 181 7. In 1864 
Congress authorized the young institution at Washington to exercise 
the full functions of a college, and a department for the higher edu- 
cation of the deaf was at once established, called Gallaudet College, 
in honor of Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet, founder of deaf-mute educa- 
tion in America, and the primary department is called the Kendall 
School, in honor of Mr. Kendall. Both school and college have 
received handsome appropriations from Congress, and the institution 
now occupies a beautiful domain of 100 acres, and has ample and 
tasteful buildings. The number of students is now eighty-five in the 
college and fifty in the school. All have opportunity to learn to 
speak, the system of instruction including both manual and oral 
methods. Poor students are received on very liberal terms. Visitors 
are admitted on Thursdays between the hours of 9.00 and 3.00. 

Excursions by Steamer or Rail to Fortress Monroe, the Bull 
Run Battlefield, Fredericksburg, Harper's Ferry, the Luray Caverns 
in Virginia, and to Annapolis in IMaryland, are often made from 
Washington — frequently on special occasions at low rates. 



THE DIPLOMATIC CORPS. 



- Foreign Embassies and Legations to tlie United States. 

Argentine Republic. — Legation, No. 1521 K Street. Senor Don 
Vicente J. Dominguez, First Secretary and Charge d' Affaires. 

Austria-Htcngary. — Legation, No. 1721 Rhode Island Avenue. 
Mr. Landislaus Hengelmiiller von Hengervar, Envoy Extraordinary 
and Minister Plenipotentiary.* 

Belgiicm. — Legation, No. 1336 I Street. Mr. Alfred Le Ghait, 
Minister. 

Brazil. — Legation, No. 1800 N Street. Senhor Salvador de Men- 
donga, Minister. 

Chile. — Legation, No. 1319 K Street. Seiior Don Domingo Gana, 
Minister. 

China. — Legation, No. 2703 Fourteenth Street. Mr. Yang Yli, 
Minister (absent); Mr. Ho Yen Shing, Secretary of Legation. 

Colombia. — Legation, No. 921 Farragut Square. Senor Don Jose 
Marcelino Hurtado, Minister (absent); Senor Don Julio Rengifo, Sec- 
retary of Legation and Charge d'Affaires. 

Costa Rica. — Legation,. No. 1509 Twentieth Street. Seiior Don 
Joaquin Bernardo Calvo, Secretary of Legation and Charge d'Affaires. 

Denmark. — Legation, No. 1409 Twentieth Street. Mr. Constan- 
tin Brun, Minister. 

Dominican Republic. — Senor Alejandro Woz y Gil, Charge d'Af- 
faires, 31 and 33 Broadway, New York. 

France. — Embassy, No. 1710 H Street. Mr. J. Patenotre, Ambas- 
sador. 

Germany. — Embassy, No. 1435 Massachusetts Avenue. Baron 
Max von Thielmann, Ambassador. 

Great Britain. — Embassy, No. 1300 Connecticut Avenue. The 
Right Honorable Sir Julian Pauncefote, G. C. B. , G. C. M. G. , Ambas- 
sador. 

Guatemala. — Legation, No. 1525 Eighteenth Street (entrance on 
Madison Street). Seiior Don Antonio Lazo Arriaga, INIinister. 

Haiti. — Legation in New York City, No. loi Pearl Street. Mr. 
Clement Hsentjens, Minister. 

Hawaii. — Legation, No. 1105 Sixteenth vStreet. Mr. Francis M. 
Hatch, Minister. 

Honduras.— Legation, No. 1525 Eighteenth Street. Senor Don 
Antonio Lazo Arriaga, Minister. (See Guatemala.) 

*This is the full title of all ministers except Holland's and Portugal's " Min- 
isters Resident." The full title of the ambas.sadors is Ambassador Extraordi- 
nary and Plenipotentiary. These titles are abbreviated in this list. 

(104) 



THE DIPLOMA TIC CORPS. 465 

Italy. — Embassy, No. 917 Sixteenth Street. Baron cle Fava, 
Ambassador. 

Japa7i. — Legation, No. 1310 N Street. Mr. Shinichiro Kurino, 
Minister. 

A'c'r*?*^.— Legation, Iowa Circle. Mr. Pak Yong Kiu, Secretary 
and Charge d' Affaires. 

Mexico. — Legation, No. 1413 I Street (entrance by side street). 
Senor Don Matias Romero, Minister. 

Netherlands. — Legation No. 1013 Fifteenth Street. Mr. G. de 
Weckherlin, Minister. 

Nicaragua. — 

Portugal. — Ltiis Augusto de Moura Pinta d'Azevedo Taveira, in 
charge of the affairs of the Legation, Willard's Hotel. 

Russia. — Legation, No. 1829 I Street. Prince Cantacuzene, min- 
ister (absent); Mr. Alexandre de Somow. First Secretary and Charge 
d' Affaires. 

Spain. — Legation, No. 1706 Twentieth Street. Senor Don 
Enrique Dupuy de Lome, Minister. 

Sweden and Norivay. — Legation, No. 201 1 Q Street. Mr. J. A. 
W. Grip, Minister. 

Switzerlajid. — Legation, No. 15 18 K Street. Mr. J. B. Pioda, 
Minister. 

Turkey. — Legation, No. 1802 R Street. Mavroyeni Bey, Minister. 

Venesicela. — Legation, No. 2 Iowa Circle. Senor Jose Andrade, 
Minister. 



16 



LIST OF CHURCHES IN WASH 
INGTON. 



Baptist Churches: 

E Street. — E Street, near Sixth Street. 

Fifth. — D Street, near Four-and-a-half Street. 

First. — O and Sixteenth streets. 

Gay Street. — Georgetown, Thirty -first and O streets. 

German Baptist Brethren. — 318 Pennsylvania Avenue, S. E. 

Grace. — South Carolina Avenue, Ninth and D streets, S. E. 

Kendall Branch.— Wmth. Street, below B Street, S. W. 

Marylajid Avenue. — Maryland Avenue and Fourteenth Street, 
N. E. 

Metropolitan. — A and Sixth streets, N. E. 

Second. — Virginia Avenue and Fourth Street, N. E. 

Baptist churches also in Anacostia, East Washington, Brookland, 
and Tennallytown. For the fifty colored Baptist churches, see City 
Director}^ 

Congregational : 

First. — Tenth and G streets. 

Mount Pleasajit. — Howard Avenue, between Fourteenth and 
Sixteenth streets. 

Fifth.— ^00 I Street, N. E. 

Lincoln Memorial (colored). — Eleventh and R streets. 

Plymouth (colored). — 2464 Sixth Street. 

Christian (Disciples of Christ) : 

Ninth 5/r^t'/.— Ninth and D streets, N. E. 

Vermont Avenue. — Vermont Avenue, near N Street. 

Episcopal Churches: 

y^j'r-f^zj'/bw.— Massachusetts Avenue and Twelfth Street. 
Christ. — G Street, between Sixth and Seventh streets, S. E. 
Or/.y/. — Georgetown, O and Thirty-first streets. 
Church of the Advent.— Vi and Second streets. 
Epiphany.— O Street, near Thirteenth Street. Chapel, C and 
Twelfth streets, S. W. 

Incarnation. — N and Twelfth streets. 

Grace. — Georgetown, 1029 Thirty-second Street. 

Grace. — D and Ninth streets, S. W. 

Holy Cross. — Oregon Avenue. 

King Hall Chapel (colored). — 2420 Sixth Street. 

(166) 



LTST OF CHURCHES IN WASHINGTON. 167 

St. Andrew's. — Corcoran and Fourteenth streets. Chapel, Mas- 
sachusetts Avenue and Eighteenth Street. 

St. Jaincs\ — Eighth Street, near Massachusetts Avenue, N. E. 

St. Jo/ill's. — H and Sixteenth streets (Lafayette Square). 

St. JoJui s. — O Street and Potomac Avenue. 

St. Luke's (colored). — Fifteenth Street and MadisoM Avenue. 

St. Margaret's.— At the head of Connecticut Avenue. 

St. Mark's.— A and Third streets, S. E. 

St. Paul's. — Twenty-third Street, near Pennsylvania Avenue. 

St. Stephen's. — Kenesaw Avenue and Fourteenth Street. ] 

St. Tkojnas'. — Eighteenth Street and Madison Avenue. 

Trinity. — Third and C streets. 

There are also Episcopal churches in Alexandria, Anacostia, 
Bennings, Bladensburg, and Rock Creek. ; 

Friends (Quakers) : 

Meeti7ig House. — 1811 I Street. 

Jewish Synagogues : \ 

Adas Israel (orthodox). — G and Sixth streets. \ 

Agoodas Achitn. — 624 K Street. i 

Washi7igton Congregation. — Eighth Street, between H and I : 

streets. J 

Lutheran Churches : 

Christ. — New Jersey Avenue and Morgan Street. 

Co7tcordia. — G and Twentieth streets. \ 

Grace. — Thirteenth and Corcoran streets. 

Keller Memorial. — Nineteenth Street and Maryland Avenue, N. E. ; 

Luther Place Memorial. — Vermont Avenue and Fourteenth ^ 

Street. I 

Redeemer. — Eighth Street, above Florida Avenue. j 

Reformatio7i. — Pennsylvania Avenue and Second Street. 1 

St. Johan7iis (German Evangelical). — 320 Four-and-a-half Street, \ 

S. W. 1 

St. vl/rtr/&'.y.— Twelfth and C streets, S. W. \ 

St. Paul's (English). — Eleventh and H streets. \ 

Tritiity. — Fourth and E streets. '\ 

Zion. — Sixth and P streets. ^ 

Methodist Churches : 

Calvary (M. E.) — Georgetown, Thirty-fifth and I streets. 

CentraH^lQt\v. Prot.)— Twelfth and M streets. 

Church of God {Meth.. Prot.)— K Street, between Thirteenth and 
Fourteenth streets, S. E. .: 

Congress Street (Meth. Prot.)— Georgetown, Thirty-first Street, 
between M and N streets. ] 

Douglas Memorial (M. E.)— Eleventh and H streets, N. E. : 

Dumbarton Avenue (M. E.) — 3133 Dumbarton Avenue. 

Epworth (M. E. South). — Seventh and A streets, N. E. 

Fifteenth Street (M. E.)— Fifteenth and R streets. ! 



168 HANDY GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

First (Meth. Prot.)— Virginia Avenue and Fifth Street. S. E. 

Fletcher Chapel QA. E.)— New York Avenue and Fourth Street. 

Foundry (M. E.)— G and Fourteenth streets. 

Gorsiich (M. E.) — L and Four-and-a-half streets, S. W. 

Grace (M. E.)— Ninth and S streets. 

Hanilzne (M. E.) — Ninth and P streets. Mission, 214 R Street. 

Indepeiident (M. E.)— Eleventh Street, between G and I streets. 

Langdon Memorial {)A. E.)— -1337 Tenth Street. 

i^rt^A'>;/<//'^<?(M. E.)— Massachusetts Avenue, near Ninth Street. 

Marvin (M. E. South).— Tenth and B streets, S. E. 

Metropolitan Memorial {M.. E.) — C and Four-and-a-half streets. 

Mount Olivet QA. E. South).— Seventh Street, near C Street, S. W. 

Motmt Vernon Place (M. E. South).— Ninth and K streets. 

North Capitol (M. E.)— North Capitol and K streets. 

North Carolina Avenue (Meth. Prot.)— North Carolina Avenue 
and B Street, S. E. 

Ryla7td{M. E.)— D and Tenth streets, S. W. 

St. John's (Meth. Prot.)— Third Street, near K Street, S. W. 

rrz«2'/'j/ (M. E.)— Fourth Street, between South Carolina Avenue 
and G Street, S. E. 

Twelfth Street (M. E.)— Twelfth and E streets, S. E. 

Union (M. E.)— Twentieth Street, near Pennsylvania Avenue. 

IVaugh Chapel (M. E.)— Third and A streets, S. E. 

Wesley Chapel (M. E.)— Fifth and F streets. 

Methodist churches also exist at Anacostia, Bennings, Bladens- 
burg, Brightwood, Brookland, Little Falls, and Tennallytown ; and 
there are thirty colored churches in the city, the addresses of which 
will be found in the City Directory. 

Presbyterian : 

Assembly s. — Fifth and I streets. 

Central.— I and Third streets. 

C^7/^;m;//.— Connecticut Avenue and Eighteenth Street. 

£"«.y/^?r;z.— Maryland Avenue and Sixth Street, N. E. 

Fifteenth Street (colored).— Fifteenth Street, between I and K 
streets. 

77/;^^/. —Four-and-a-half Street, between C and D streets. 

Fourth.— Ninth. Street and Grant Place. 

G union Temple y^/^w^r/W/.— Fourteenth and R streets. 

Gurley J/^;;/c?r/«/.— Florida Avenue, between Sixth and Seventh 
streets. 

Metropolitan.— Yomih. and B streets, S. E. 

New York Avenue.— N^^ York Avenue, between Thirteenth 
and Fourteenth streets. Missions at Thirteenth and C streets, and 
on M Street, between Four-and-a-half and Sixth streets, S. W. 

North.— N Street, between Ninth and Tenth streets. 

Peck Memorial. ^VQ\\vi^y\v3x{\d. Avenue and Twenty-eighth 
Street. 

Sixth Street.— C and Sixth streets, S. W. 
Western.— H Street, near Nineteenth Street- 



LIST OF CHURCHES IN WASHINGTON. 169 

Westmmsfer. — Seventh and D streets, S. W. 

West Strcft. — P Street, near Thirty-first Street, Georgetown. 

Roman Catholic: 

Iimnaciilate Conceptio7i. — Eighth and N streets. 

St. Aloysius.—^or'On Capitol and I streets. 

St. Atigtistz'ne (colored). — Fifteenth Street, near L Street. 

St. Dominic. — Sixth and E streets, S. W. 

St. Joseph's (German). — Second and C streets, N. E. 

St. Marys.— Fifth and H streets. 

St. Matthew's. — Fifteenth and H streets, 

St. Patrick's. — Tenth Street, between F and G streets. 

St. Peter's. — Second and C streets, S. E. 

St. Stephen's. — Pennsylvania Avenue and Twenty-fifth Street. 

St. Teresa's. — Uniontown. 

Trinity. — First and Lingan streets, Georgetown. 

Lesser Denominations : 

Christ adelphian Church. — 113 Pennsylvania Avenue. 

Dutch Reforjned.—Y'wst Church, Sixth and N streets. Grace 
Church, Fifteenth and P streets. 

People's Church. — 423 G Street. 

Seventh Day Adventists' Chtirch.— Eighth Street, between F 
and G streets. 

Swedenborgiati. — New Church, Corcoran and Eighteenth streets. 
African, V and Tenth streets. 

Unitarian. — All Souls Church, Fourteenth and L streets. 

Utiited Brethreji. — Memorial Church, North Capitol and R streets. 

Universalist. — Church of our Father, Thirteenth and L streets. 



INDEX. 



PAGE 

AGRICULTURE, Department of 99 

Alexandria 142 

American Republics, Bureau of... 91 

Anacostia 61 

Anacostia River 1-I i 

Apartment Houses 12 

Arlington ^45 

Army and Navy Club 138 

Army Medical Museum 107 

Art Galleries 134 

Astrophysical Observatory 103 

BALTIMORE and Ohio Station.. 7 
Bierstadt, Albert. 34 

Bladensburg 162 

Boarding Houses 1 1 

Botanical Garden 63 

British Legation 123 

Brown, Henry Kirke 31 

Brumidi, Constantino... - 26 

Bulwer House, The 112 

Bureaus, etc.: 

American Repiiblics 9t 



Coast and Geodetic Survey. 

Engraving and Printing 

Ethnology 

Geological Survey 

Indian 

Land Office 

Patent Office 

Pension 

Printing Office. 



St) 



W eather - - - 100 

CABIN John Bridge 161 

Capitol Guides 32 

Capitol Hill -- 56 

Capitol, The 18 

Dome - 26 

Eastern Front 21 

Grand Central Portico 22 

House of Representatives 32 

Marble Room --- 42 

President's Room 42 

Rogers' Bronze Doors 23 

Rotunda 23 

Senate Bronze Doors 41 

Senate Chainber 39 

Senate Lobby 42 

Statuary Hall 28 

Statue of Liberty 27 

Supreme Court Chamber 45 

Terrace 47 

Western Front 47 



PAGE 
Catholic University of America... 152 

Center Market 64 

Chain Bridge 160 

Chapman, John Gadsby 25 

Chevy Chase. 155 

Chinese Legation 115 

Christ Church 59 

Christ Church Cemetery 58 

Churches 133, 166 

City Hail - . . 17 

City Water Works 161 

Civil Service Commission 91 

Clubs 137 

Coast and Geodetic Survey.. 56 

Columbia Athletic Club 13B 

Columbian University 115 

Commissioners of Education 88 

Commissions: 

Civil Service 91 

Fish 107 

Inter-State Commerce 91 

Venezuela Boundary 91 

Conduit Road 161 

Congressional Burial Ground 58 

Connecticut Avenue 123 

Convention Hall 90, 137 

Corcoran Art Gallery. .._ 134 

Cosmos Club 115 

Court of Claims 84 

Crawford, Thomas 22 

DEAD Letter Office 85 

Decatur House, The 113 

Departments: 

Agriculture 99 

Interior - - - 86 

Justice 84 

Labor 9' 

Navy -- 79 

Post Office 85 

State 77 

Treasury '. 81 

War --- 79 

Diplomatic Corps, The... 131, 165 

Distributing Reservoir.. 149 

District and Municipal Affairs 13 

Duddington Manor 5'' 

Dupont Circle ^ -4 

Dupont, Statue of Adm. Samuel F. i.'4 



XpARLY'S Raid. 
Lv Eckington... 
Edge wood 



(170) 



INDEX. 



171 



PAGE 

Education, Office of the Commis- 
sioner of 88 

Emancipation of the Slaves, Statue 58 
Engraving and Printing, Bureau of 98 

Etiquette, Official 127 

Everett House, The 117 

Excursions About Washington 139 

Executive Mansion 69 

FARRAGUT, Statue of Admiral 
David G 123 

Farragut Square 123 

Fish Comrnission, The United 

States .. 107 

Force, Peter 49 

Ford's Theater 65 

Fort Foote 142 

Fort Lyon _ 142 

Fort Myer 147 

Fort Totten 151 

Fort Stevens 149 

Fort Washington 143 

Fort Whipple 148 

Fourteenth Street 114 

Franklin Square 114 

Franklin, Statue of Benjamin 65 

French Embassy - 117 

GARFIELD, Shooting of Presi- 
dent 7 

Garfield, Statue of Pres. James A. . 63 

Geographic Names, Board on 88 

Geological Survey 88 

Georgetown 155 

Georgetown College 156 

Glen Echo 159 

Glen Echo Heights 160 

Giesboro Point 141 

Government Hospital for Insane., 141 

Government Printing Office 90 

Grant's (General) Headquarters.. 79 

Great Falls of the Potomac 160 

Greene, Statue of Major-General 

Nathaniel 54 

Greenough, Horatio 18 

Gridiron Club 138 

HACKS and Cabs :. 8 
Hallsall, W illiam F 44 

Hancock, Statue of General Win- 
field S 64 

Healy, George P. A 72 

Historic and Picturesque Wash- 
ington 109 

Historic Houses: 

Bulwer House 112 

Decatur House 113 

Duddington Manor 56 

Everett House 117 

Octagon House.. 95 

Seward House m 

Sumner House 112 

Van Ness Mansion 25 

Wirt House 117 

Hospital Square 58 



PAGE 

Hotels 8 

Houdon, Jean Antoine 30 

Howard University . 149 

H Street 115 

Hunting Creek 142 

TNAUGURAL Ball, The 89 

-L Indian Bureau 88 

Interior, Department of the 86 

Inter-State Commerce Commission 91 

Iowa Circle 125 

I Street 118 

Ivy City Race Track 162 

TACKSON, Statue of President 

J Andrew no 

Justice, Department of 84 

KENDALL Green 163 
K Street 119 

LABOR, Department of 91 
Lafayette Memorial Statue... iio 

Lafayette Square 109 

Land Office, General 88 

Latrobe, Benj. H. 20 

Leutze, Emanuel 34 

Library of Congress 49 

Lincoln, Assassination of President 65 

Lincoln Square 58 

Little Falls of the Potomac 160 

Long Bridge 97 

Louise Home 121 

Luther, Martin 114 

MCPHERSON, Statue of Major- 
General Jas. B 118 

Maltby Building 57 

Marine Barracks 60 

]\Iarshall Hall 144 

Marshall, Statue of Chief Justice 

John 47 

Massachusetts Avenue 120 

Metropolitan Club 117 

Metropolitan Hotel 64 

Mexican Legation 118 

Moran, Thomas 44 

Mount Olivet Cemetery . 162 

Mount Vernon _. 139 

NATIONAL Fair Grounds 162 
National Hotel... 64 

National Military Cemetery 146 

National Museum, The 103 

Naval Hospital 60 

Naval Monument 62 

Naval Observatory^ i^ 

Navy Department 79 

Navy Yard 59 

Neagle, John 36 

New Hampshire Avenue 125 

QAK Hill Cemetery.. 157 

^^ Oak View 159 



172 



INDEX. 



PAGE 

Octag-on House, The 95 

Old Capitol Prison 56 

"PALMER, Erastus Dow 31 

^ Patent Office 87 

Peale, Charles Wilson 43 

Pennsylvania Avenue 62 

Pennsylvania Railroad Station 7 

Pension Bureau 89 

Post Office, General 85 

Post Office, New... 66 

Potomac River Trip to Mount Ver- 
non 140 

Powell, Wm. H 25 

Powers, Hiram 35 

President's Grounds 70 

Public Printer 90 

RAWLINS, Statue of Major- 
General John A 65 

Residences, Prominent 109 

Restaurants. 12 

Rhode Island Avenue 125 

Rock Creek Church _ 151 

Rogers, Randolph 23 

eCHEFFER, Ary 34 

^ Scott, Statue of General Win- 
field . 121 

Seventh Street . 64 

Seward House, The 1 m 

vShops 13 

Simmons, Franklin 31 

Sixteenth Street 120 

Smithsonian Institution .. loi 

Social Formalities at Official 

Houses 130 

Soldiers' Home 148, 150 

St. John's Episcopal Church. no 

Stanton Square 57 

State, Department of 77 

Statues: 

Dupont, Admiral Samuel F 124 

Emancipation of the Slaves 58 

Farrag-ut, Admiral David G 123 

Franklin, Benjamin 65 

Garfield, President James A... 63 
Greene, Major-General Na- 
thaniel 54 

Hancock, General Winfield S. . 64 
Jackson, President Andrew no 



PAGE 

Lafayette Memorial no 

Marshall, Chief Justice John ... 47 
McPherson, Major-Gen. Jas. B. . 118 
Rawlins, Major-Gen. John A. 65 

Scott, General Winfield 121 

Thomas, General George H 114 

Washington, George 18, 125 

Steamboat Landing 8 

Stone, Horatio 30 

Street-Car System 8 

Stuart, Gilbert Charles 36 

Sumner House, The. 112 

q^ENNALLYTOWN 159 

J- Theaters 137 

Thomas Circle 114 

Thomas, Statue of Gen. George H. 114 

Toner, J. M 49 

Treasury, The 81 

Tunlaw Heights 159 

TJNIVERSITY Club 138 

VAN Der Lyn, John 25 
Van Ness Mansion, The 95 

Venezuela Boundary Commission. 91 

WAGGAMAN Gallery, The.... 136 
Walker, James 43 

War Department 79 

Washington Barracks 141 

Washington Circle 125 

Washington's Mansion at Mount _ 

Vernon.. "143 

Washington Moniiment 92 

Washington, Statues of George. 18, 125 

Washington, Tomb of 143 

Weather Bureau 100 

Weir, Robert W. 25 

Wesley Heights _ 151 

White House, or Executive Man- 
sion 69 

White House, Social Formalities 

at the 127 

Whitney, Anne 32 

Winder Building... 79 

Willard's Hotel 67 

WirtHouse, The 117 

Woodley Heights 1 59 

Zoological Park 153 



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The Ice Queen. A story of Adventure for Young People. 256 

pages. Illustrated, $1.25. 

Mr. Ingersoll has the faculty of presenting solid facts in an entertaining and 
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A delightfully entertaining story for boys and girls. . . . The four weeks' 
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The Oyster Industries of the United States. Special Report to the 

Tenth Census. Quarto. Illustrated, $5.00. 

Sent Postpaid, on receipt of price, by the Author, 
61 East Ninth Street, New York. 



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